Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the funds paid out to dormant companies in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The COVID-19 support schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic. These schemes are part of the collective national effort to protect jobs. HMRC administered the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme (EOHO)
SEISS was only payable to non-incorporated businesses. CJRS and EOHO was payable to both non-incorporated and incorporated businesses.
HMRC prioritised getting money to those who needed it with the schemes designed to minimise fraud while not unnecessarily delaying payments. The schemes were designed to prevent fraud, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself. However, they could still be attractive to fraudsters.
To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme employers needed to have a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme and submitted a Real Time Information (RTI) return with details of the employees’ wages. For instance, for claim periods between 1 November 2020 and 30 April 2021 employees included in furlough claims must have been employed on 30 October 2020 and HMRC must have received an RTI submission between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020 notifying a payment through PAYE in respect of that employee.
To qualify for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, claimants needed to register confirming they met the following criteria:
The company will have to have been actively trading to make a valid claim.
To ensure quick payment, HMRC undertook pre-payment risk assessments within 72 hours of receipt, blocking those indicating criminal activity.
As businesses were required to be active to make a valid claim, HMRC believes that the risk of funds being paid to dormant companies to be low.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the number of entities that have self-reported funds paid out due to fraud or error in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC have taken a supportive and reasonable approach where mistakes have been made, giving customers the opportunity to correct them without fear of sanctions. By law, claimants can notify and amend incorrect claims within 90 days without penalty.
Claimants can return monies that they are not entitled to in a number of ways, for example, via an online digital service or by making an entry in their income or corporation tax return. As HMRC does not yet have all the returns for the periods in which the grants were paid, they are not currently able to quantify the numbers of entities who have returned grants.
As set out in the document that accompanied HMRC’s 2020-21 Annual Report & Accounts, claimants have repaid more than £350 million to correct mistakes without HMRC intervention in addition to the compliance results for the schemes. HMRC’s 2020-21 Annual Report & Accounts can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the length of time the bidding process will take from the time of application to the allocation of funding through the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Levelling Up Fund will be open to all local areas in England and allocated competitively. This will be a fast, streamlined process to directly fund local priorities. The Spending Review makes available up to £600 million in 2021-22. We will publish a prospectus for the fund and launch the first round of competitions in the New Year. Further funding will be spread over subsequent years up to 2024-25.Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the Levelling Up Fund on local economic recovery.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Levelling Up Fund will invest in high value local projects in England to boost local economic recovery, including bypasses and other local road schemes, bus lanes, rail station upgrades, regenerating eyesores, upgrading town centres and community infrastructure, and local arts and culture. This is about empowering local areas to identify and bring forward genuine local priorities. To support levelling up opportunity across the country, we will prioritise bids to drive growth and regeneration in places in need, those facing particular local challenges, and areas that have received less Government investment in recent years.Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the effect the Levelling Up Fund will have on national economic recovery.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Levelling Up Fund will invest in high value local projects in England to boost local economic recovery, including bypasses and other local road schemes, bus lanes, rail station upgrades, regenerating eyesores, upgrading town centres and community infrastructure, and local arts and culture. This is about empowering local areas to identify and bring forward genuine local priorities. To support levelling up opportunity across the country, we will prioritise bids to drive growth and regeneration in places in need, those facing particular local challenges, and areas that have received less Government investment in recent years.