As the number of furlough fraud whistleblowers approaches 14,000, HMRC is picking up the pace on pursuing businesses that fraudulently claimed furlough
So far, 13,775 whistleblower reports have been received by HMRC about fraud against the furlough scheme as people report their employers, and ex-employers, says law firm Pinsent Masons.
There were many complex and changeable rules surrounding furlough, so error as well as fraud are known to have been commonplace. In total, employers claimed £70bn from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which ran from April 2020 to September 2022. There was an estimated £5.5bn in furlough fraud over the period, representing 9% of all claims.