HMRC forecasts it will recover around £1.1bn of error and fraud related to covid schemes by 2023-24, but yield from the taxpayer protection taskforce is falling short of original expectations.

The latest covid support scheme report by the National Audit Office (NAO) assesses the total levels of fraud and finds that HMRC’s dedicated covid fraud investigation team has missed targets on recovering fraudulent funds.

HMRC forecasts the taxpayer protection taskforce will secure £623m in fraudulent payments by 2023-24, with £605m coming from CJRS and self employment income support scheme (SEISS) fraud.  

HMRC’s expectation that the taskforce would recover a minimum of £800m across 2021-22 and 2022-23 is ‘proving challenging’, the NAO said. The total fraud figure estimated by HMRC is £4.5bn.

While