Party of fiscal responsibility? Really?

If only they could be bothered to reclaim the estimated £31m lost due to furlough fraud

For added context,the cost of the supposedly unaffordable additional £20 per week on universal credit was £6bn.

growstuff

During lockdown, I wasn't eligible for any help at all because my income over three years from self-employment was less than my pension income, even though lockdown meant that I couldn't work/earn anything. HMRC didn't have any problem working that one out!

That's a relatively easy calculation for even their computers. It's when they link up with other systems that they have problems.

My head is not working too well today - certainly not my mental arithmetic. Apologies.

Dinahmo

There were over 1.6 million loans made between April 2020 and May 2021. How on earth do you think that these could all have been checked by interns? The computer systems aren't up to scratch. My telling you about 2 clients' problems were to show that they aren't working. If they cannot deal with small problems how do you think that the same computer system can correctly check loan applications?

One reason is that they are too busy developing new schemes for poor tax payers to comply with.

When the subject of BBLs and other loans came up previously I did mention that the banks wouldn't be too bothered about them because they were being underwritten by the govt. It would have been relatively easy for the banks to check up on the potential borrowers since their systems are much better IMO. They would already have proof that a company existed because they would require a copy of the certificate of incorporation and the memorandum and articles. If they had those they presumably would also have had a record of the companies bank account.

£80.41 billion was loaned of which 10% was defrauded. £80 million sounds a lot but in the scheme of things and compared with all the contracts handed out to cronies it isn't a lot.

10% of £80 billion is £8 billion not £80 million.

To put that into some kind of context, the total budget for all state schools in the UK is £53.5 billion.

During lockdown, I wasn't eligible for any help at all because my income over three years from self-employment was less than my pension income, even though lockdown meant that I couldn't work/earn anything. HMRC didn't have any problem working that one out!

There were over 1.6 million loans made between April 2020 and May 2021. How on earth do you think that these could all have been checked by interns? The computer systems aren't up to scratch. My telling you about 2 clients' problems were to show that they aren't working. If they cannot deal with small problems how do you think that the same computer system can correctly check loan applications?

One reason is that they are too busy developing new schemes for poor tax payers to comply with.

When the subject of BBLs and other loans came up previously I did mention that the banks wouldn't be too bothered about them because they were being underwritten by the govt. It would have been relatively easy for the banks to check up on the potential borrowers since their systems are much better IMO. They would already have proof that a company existed because they would require a copy of the certificate of incorporation and the memorandum and articles. If they had those they presumably would also have had a record of the companies bank account.

£80.41 billion was loaned of which 10% was defrauded. £80 million sounds a lot but in the scheme of things and compared with all the contracts handed out to cronies it isn't a lot.

MaizieD

Company's House is a farce, anyway. Anybody can register a company with them with no checks or requirement for evidence of anything at all. You or I could do it tomorrow...

Even when they do it’s near impossible to find out wether they are creditworthy, because the assets are owned by some holding company that might be based anywhere.

Fair point about Companies House, but surely a company claiming help should have to show a year's accounts? On the register is does say whether accounts have been submitted and when the company was registered. Surely, if someone can't read that bit to check there is something wrong? Or is it only the inherent honesty of the rest of us that stopped us from claiming? Just what do any of us get out of this government? I can hardly hold back the excitement of planning what to do with the additional £120 per year that Sunak has promised for 2024, that's assuming I haven't frozen to death before then, or died from some deadly e-coli from paddling in a river.

Company's House is a farce, anyway. Anybody can register a company with them with no checks or requirement for evidence of anything at all. You or I could do it tomorrow...

Aren't HMRC errors part and parcel of the 'small state' that the tories so passionately desire, as they are a direct result of slashing government spending ?

We have a tottering Justice system, tottering education system, ditto policing and just about any public service that you care to name. All of which have been subject to swingeing cuts over the past decade.

If 'fiscal responsibility' means spending public money wisely defunding public services doesn't really seem to fit the bill, does it? Unless one's definition of 'wisely' is to spend as little as possible on the country's citizens...

I know about HMRC errors, I have run my own business! This isn't what I am talking about, what I mean is the business loans given to fraudsters. Quite simply, the first stage should have been to go on to Companies House to see if the claimant's company even existed.

No the claim doesn't hold up with scrutiny, but sadly, very few seem willing to call this out, to ask the right questions. What is happening is criminal and if this was another country, or dare I say it, the European Commission which was squandering tax payers money in this scale, there would be outrage.

Sadly, HMRC does not have the resources to check things thoroughly. Their computers make mistakes. A few weeks ago a client received a penalty notice for non submission of a tax return for (guess which year?) 2000. Perhaps it was the millenium bug.

Today I received an email from a client telling me that back in January she was told that a refund was being paid to her and that HMRC had written to her agent. The refund hasn't being received, I did not receive a letter and it is still showing up on my agent's account as being claimable.

These are just 2 examples of computer errors that HMRC have made to which thousands of agents will attest. So using interns to process the furlough claims wouldn't work because the information is not readily accessible.

That claim simply doesn’t hold up with scrutiny.

Words fail me GillT57. Until people open their eyes nothing will happen.