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1457751

registered interest
date	14/04/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many claims were excluded or rejected from the Government covid-19 furlough scheme; and if he will summarise the reasons for exclusion.
tabling member constituency	Hemel Hempstead
tabling member printed	Sir Mike Penning
uin	153820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2022 answer text <p>The Government has been clear throughout the pandemic that HMRC should prioritise getting vital support to businesses and their employees.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC designed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to prevent fraud before any payments were made, in both how they set the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself.</p><p> </p><p>To qualify for CJRS, employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information (RTI) return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid, so they blocked those that were highly indicative of criminal activity.</p><p> </p><p>As a result, an estimated 21,500 ineligible claims for CJRS were automatically blocked from entering the claims process.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to those that were blocked, a further 3,500 claims for CJRS were rejected in 2020-21 as they showed indications of being linked to criminal activity.</p><p> </p><p>Further checks also included checking claim amounts against employment information already returned to HMRC and capping any excessive CJRS claims to the correct entitlement amount.</p><p> </p><p>Details of HMRC’s prepayment compliance activity for 2021-22 will be released in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts later this year. This will provide the information on blocked and rejected claims for 2021-22.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 26/04/2022 15:12:34 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning

1437512

registered interest
date	02/03/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends of the level of former employees being denied furlough payments for which they are eligible by employers.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Feryal Clark
uin	133324
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2022 answer text <p>Information is not available on the trends of former employees who did not receive furlough payments. HMRC publishes statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS); the latest release was published on 16 December 2021: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistics%2Fcoronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-16-december-2021&amp;data=04%7C01%7CBethany.Douce%40hmtreasury.gov.uk%7C1b9d2acc5bf04a4fb0cf08da05bf3d88%7Ced1644c505e049e6bc39fcf7ac51c18c%7C0%7C0%7C637828616164124479%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=8BD2XACo5HfljaP5Ex8gRSxVcYpa2U6nfwM0nNxVQAA%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-16-december-2021</a>.</p><p> </p><p>CJRS was available to all employers with a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system and to all employees on PAYE, regardless of their employment contract. The key eligibility criteria was that employees had to be on payroll the day before the scheme was announced, so 19 March 2020 for the first and second iterations of CJRS, 30 October 2020 for the third iteration of CJRS, and 2 March 2021 for the fourth iteration of CJRS. Employers also had to have previously notified HMRC, via a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission, about a payment of earnings for that employee.</p><p> </p><p>CJRS grants covered any type of employment contract and employers could claim the grant for the hours their employees and workers on payroll were not working, calculated by reference to their usual hours worked in a claim period. Flexible furlough meant employers could work for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim CJRS grant for the hours not worked with reference to hours the employee would usually have worked in that period.</p><p> </p><p>However, employers could not claim for any days from 1 December 2020 during which the furloughed employee was serving a contractual or statutory notice period for the employer. This included people serving notice of retirement or resignation. Normal redundancy rules and protections would have applied in these circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Ultimately, it was for the employer to decide whether to offer furlough to their employees, and claim the CJRS grant, according to the needs of their business. The employer was under no obligation to access the scheme.</p><p> </p><p>If an employee believes that the employer did make a claim on their behalf, but did not pass this on to the employee, they should tell HMRC.</p><p> </p><p>Reports of COVID-19 scheme abuse can be made to HMRC via their online fraud reporting tool here: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Forganisations%2Fhm-revenue-customs%2Fcontact%2Freport-fraud-to-hmrc&amp;data=04%7C01%7CBethany.Douce%40hmtreasury.gov.uk%7C1b9d2acc5bf04a4fb0cf08da05bf3d88%7Ced1644c505e049e6bc39fcf7ac51c18c%7C0%7C0%7C637828616164124479%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=KhfogUJFaEDgmbeFYdclgQcdAS6B9ggLvcM%2FMbQhnis%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/report-fraud-to-hmrc</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Calls can also be made anonymously and free of charge to report suspected fraudulent activity to the COVID Fraud Hotline on 0800 587 5030.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 14/03/2022 17:51:12 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4822 label Biography information for Feryal Clark

1434079

registered interest
date	22/02/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 21 February 2022 to Question 120805, on Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, for each phase of the Scheme, how many and what proportion of payments made by HMRC were made against claims for employees for whom no National Insurance number had been recorded on HMRC's Real Time Information system.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	127436
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2022 answer text As set out in the answer given to PQ UIN 120805, to qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information (RTI) return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.<p> </p><p>It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.</p><p> </p><p>Undertaking further in-depth analysis using RTI would take significant time to execute, and undertaking the analysis requested could only be done at disproportionate cost. As a result, the Government is unable to say what proportion of payments under CJRS were in relation to employees without a NI number.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC designed the schemes to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claim process itself. Data and risking experts blocked suspicious claims that showed signs of criminal activity and built upfront controls into the claims process to reduce the risks of fraud and error and to ensure that employers provided the data needed to do later checks if necessary.</p><p>HMRC limited the eligibility of grants to employees who already had a tax footprint. They also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid so that those that were highly indicative of criminal activity were blocked.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 127437 question first answered 25/02/2022 14:55:32 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

1434080

registered interest
date	22/02/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 21 February to Question 120805, on Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, what unique identifiers, other than National Insurance numbers, were used by HMRC to ensure payments made under the Scheme were claimed against identifiable employees.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	127437
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2022 answer text As set out in the answer given to PQ UIN 120805, to qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information (RTI) return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.<p> </p><p>It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.</p><p> </p><p>Undertaking further in-depth analysis using RTI would take significant time to execute, and undertaking the analysis requested could only be done at disproportionate cost. As a result, the Government is unable to say what proportion of payments under CJRS were in relation to employees without a NI number.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC designed the schemes to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claim process itself. Data and risking experts blocked suspicious claims that showed signs of criminal activity and built upfront controls into the claims process to reduce the risks of fraud and error and to ensure that employers provided the data needed to do later checks if necessary.</p><p>HMRC limited the eligibility of grants to employees who already had a tax footprint. They also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid so that those that were highly indicative of criminal activity were blocked.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 127436 question first answered 25/02/2022 14:55:32 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

1434340

registered interest
date	22/02/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any companies that issued dividends of £1 million or more in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22 have repaid or returned support received through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	127596
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2022 answer text <p>An estimate of the number of companies that received support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) that issued dividends of £1 million or more in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22, and an estimate of whether any of these companies have repaid or returned support received is not available.</p><p> </p><p>Data on dividends issued by companies and of claims made through the CJRS are not held together in the same system and undertaking the analysis to do the estimate requested could only be done at disproportionate cost to HMRC.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 127595 question first answered 01/03/2022 11:47:38 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1420703

registered interest
date	08/02/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of payments made under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme HMRC have not yet been recorded against a valid National Insurance number; what the value of those payments is; and what his most recent estimate is of when that matching process will be completed.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	120805
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p>The Covid-19 schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic and were part of the collective national effort to protect jobs.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has been clear throughout the pandemic that we should prioritise getting money to those who need it. The schemes were therefore designed to minimise fraud while not holding up payments unnecessarily.</p><p> </p><p>The schemes were designed to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claims process itself. Our data and risking experts block suspicious claims that show signs of criminal activity.</p><p> </p><p>To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.</p><p>It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.</p><p> </p><p>Considering all of the above, HMRC cannot carry out the level of analysis requested and therefore cannot say what proportion of payments under CJRS have not yet been recorded against a valid NI number.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 21/02/2022 14:55:03 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

1420860

registered interest
date	08/02/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Chinese owned companies have benefited from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Peter Dowd
uin	120803
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p>An estimate is not available for the number of Chinese owned companies that have benefited from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).</p><p> </p><p>However, HMRC published a list of employers that claimed through the CJRS since December 2020 on 16 December 2021 which can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-who-have-claimed-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-who-have-claimed-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme</a></p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 21/02/2022 15:09:03 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4397 label Biography information for Peter Dowd

1399352

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential reintroduction of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in the context of the spread of the omicron covid-19 variant.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	96992
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text As we have done throughout the pandemic, we are closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. We will continue to respond proportionately to the changing path of the virus.<p> </p><p>Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has a strong track record of responding quickly, flexibly, and comprehensively in supporting jobs, businesses, individuals, and families when needed.</p><p>The effectiveness of our £400 billion package of interventions since the start of the pandemic, and the strength of the recovery that we have seen from previous waves means the economy is in a different place now.</p><p> </p><p>Employee numbers are above February 2020 levels in every part of the country and have grown consistently through this year.</p><p> </p><p>So, it is right that our economic response in the face of Omicron adapts too and that our support is better targeted at the businesses that need it the most, providing better value for taxpayers and helping the economy to bounce back more quickly.</p><p> </p><p>However, we recognise the impact Omicron and Government guidance is having on businesses and individuals, which is why on 21 December 2021 we announced £1 billion of new grant support for the hospitality, leisure, and cultural sectors, and reintroduced the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme. This is on top of the existing package of support, in place through to Spring 2022, which includes the Recovery Loan Scheme, business rates relief, VAT reduction, and the ongoing commercial rent moratorium.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 96993 question first answered 12/01/2022 17:36:43 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1399353

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to reintroduce the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in the event that further restrictions are introduced in the context of the rising rate of covid-19 infections.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	96993
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text As we have done throughout the pandemic, we are closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. We will continue to respond proportionately to the changing path of the virus.<p> </p><p>Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has a strong track record of responding quickly, flexibly, and comprehensively in supporting jobs, businesses, individuals, and families when needed.</p><p>The effectiveness of our £400 billion package of interventions since the start of the pandemic, and the strength of the recovery that we have seen from previous waves means the economy is in a different place now.</p><p> </p><p>Employee numbers are above February 2020 levels in every part of the country and have grown consistently through this year.</p><p> </p><p>So, it is right that our economic response in the face of Omicron adapts too and that our support is better targeted at the businesses that need it the most, providing better value for taxpayers and helping the economy to bounce back more quickly.</p><p> </p><p>However, we recognise the impact Omicron and Government guidance is having on businesses and individuals, which is why on 21 December 2021 we announced £1 billion of new grant support for the hospitality, leisure, and cultural sectors, and reintroduced the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme. This is on top of the existing package of support, in place through to Spring 2022, which includes the Recovery Loan Scheme, business rates relief, VAT reduction, and the ongoing commercial rent moratorium.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 96992 question first answered 12/01/2022 17:36:43 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1388836

registered interest
date	16/12/2021
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions on the potential merits of reintroducing a furlough scheme to help those effected by the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	94438
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/01/2022 answer text <p>As we have done throughout the pandemic, we are closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. We will continue to respond proportionately to the changing path of the virus.</p><p> </p><p>Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has a strong track record of responding quickly, flexibly, and comprehensively in supporting jobs, businesses, individuals, and families when needed.</p><p> </p><p>The effectiveness of our £400 billion package of interventions since the start of the pandemic, and the strength of the recovery that we have seen from previous waves, means the economy is in a different place now.</p><p> </p><p>Employee numbers are above February 2020 levels in every part of the country and grew consistently through last year.</p><p> </p><p>So, it is right that our economic response in the face of Omicron adapts too and that our support is better targeted at the businesses that need it the most, providing better value for taxpayers and helping the economy to bounce back more quickly.</p><p> </p><p>However, we recognise the impact Omicron and Government guidance is having on businesses and individuals, which is why on 21 December 2021 we announced £1 billion of new grant support for the hospitality, leisure, and cultural sectors, and reintroduced the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme. This is on top of the existing package of support, in place through to Spring 2022, which includes the Recovery Loan Scheme, business rates relief, VAT reduction, and the ongoing commercial rent moratorium.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 10/01/2022 15:35:46 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell