British tax officials have ramped up efforts to claw back £1bn from fraudulent or incorrect furlough payouts, after opening up tens of thousands of investigations against companies.
According to figures disclosed under freedom of information laws, HM Revenue and Customs has stepped up the number of investigations into potentially fraudulent pandemic support claims over the past eight months, with more than 26,500 interventions launched by officials since the spring.
The details, shared with the Guardian, cover the multibillion-pound furlough programme, which was closed at the end of September after subsidising the wages of about 9 million workers in Britain at its peak last year.
It also covers investigations into the Treasury’s parallel
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