On 17 November 2022, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt makes an autumn budget statement in the House of Commons in London. PHOTO AFP LONDON - Britain's government has lost tens of billions of pounds to fraud in recent years, with most public bodies unable to grasp the scale of the problem, the independent public spending watchdog said on Thursday.
The National Audit Office NAO said government accounts pointed to fraud worth 21 billion pounds 25.87 billion in the 2020 21 and 2021 22 financial years, up from 5.5 billion pounds in the previous two years.
Of that, 7.3 billion pounds were related to temporary COVID 19 schemes, many of which comprised loans to businesses.
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The numbers from the Public Sector Fraud Authority show that fraud and error in government are between 33.2 billion pounds and 58.8 billion pounds for the 2020 21 year, excluding pandemic-related spending, the cost of fraud may be much higher, according to the NAO.
The NAO said most government departments were not equipped with the ability to counter fraud or even understand how big the risk was.
NAO head Gareth Davies said there had been a significant increase in the level of fraud reported in the annual reports and accounts we audit.
In addition to the loss of taxpayer money, it creates the risk that people perceive fraud and corruption across government as normal and tolerated. If not tackled, this could affect public confidence in the integrity of public services. Britain's position in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index fell sharply last year, due to the decline of standards in government and controls over the use of taxpayer money. It highlighted the VIP lane for fast-tracking personal protective equipment contracts at the height of the Pandemic, which was systematically favoured by companies with connections to the governing Conservative Party.
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Finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday that tackling tax and state benefit fraud was a priority for the government.
The opposition Labour Party's deputy leader Angela Rayner said the report showed a dereliction of duty The government completely abdicted their responsibility to crack down on this crime, leaving public bodies without the resources to combat it effectively and protect the public's money.