The Chief Executive of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) says he expects organised crime to target the United Kingdom Government’s multibillion-pound Employee Furlough Scheme.
The scheme, which aims at job retention, pays 80 per cent of an employee’s salary up to £2,500 ($A4,900) a month for up to three months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is due to come online for employers to make claims this week (20 April).
The Chief Executive, Jim Harra (pictured) told a committee of MPs that a vast amount of money would be paid out in a short period of time.
“Any scheme like this is a target for organised crime,” Mr Harra said.
“Any scheme that pays out, I’m afraid attracts criminals that want to defraud it.”
Mr Harra said HMRC had four lines of defence to stop fraudsters, including a whistle-blower hotline.
“A key safeguard is the stipulation that an employee has to have been on a payroll on 28 February in order to claim, which should prevent the creation of claims using fake employees,” Mr Harra said.
He said other measures included the requirement for an employer to have already been authenticated by HMRC; a four-to-six-day processing period to make background checks, and checks made after payout to verify a claim was real.
“We had to get a scheme set up rapidly and time has been the enemy of perfection in this,” Mr Harra said.
“We believe we are striking the right balance protecting the Exchequer from abuse and the imperative to get help out to those that need it as fast as we possibly can.”
He said he had a high level of confidence that the online system being set up to take employer claims would not crash.
However, he admitted that if a very large number of employers phoned HMRC for help, its call centres “would struggle to provide the service we want”.
London, 10 April 2020
