Public Accounts Committee
6 July 2026
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Public Accounts Committee House of Commons
00:06 - 01:43
Speaker 2
Order, order. Welcome to the Public Accounts Committee on Monday the 6th of July. Today we are examining the work of the Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner in identifying and recouping taxpayers' money lost to fraud during the pandemic. During Covid-19, the government acted at pace to deliver life-saving equipment, protect jobs and sustain the economy. However, that urgency came with significant risks and it's now estimated that 10.9 billion pounds may have been lost to fraud across a range of support schemes, of which a staggering 9 billion has not been recovered.
The establishment of the Commissioner's role reflects the scale of that challenge in recouping these losses and strengthening the government's counter-fraud capability. So today in the second panel, the committee will examine whether government has recovered all they reasonably can, whether departments have the tools and resources needed to pursue fraud at scale, and what lessons are being learned to ensure the UK is better protected against fraud in future crises. In this first panel, we will hear from the Counter-Fraud Commissioner, who I will extend a warm welcome in a minute, the Public Sector Fraud Authority and from officials at the Treasury. So without any further ado, it would be really good and in welcoming all of you here today, if we could start with you, Commissioner, if you could introduce yourself, say what your role was, would be really helpful.
01:43 - 02:21
Speaker 5
Well, good afternoon everyone. I'm Tom Hayhoe, I spent a year working out of HM Treasury as the Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner. With a brief, and I would stress it's about counter-fraud not corruption, which I think there's sometimes a bit of confusion as to what the role was. With a brief both to do what we could to achieve further recoveries of money lost through fraud in the course of the Covid pandemic, but also to make recommendations as to how we could prevent recurrence of fraud on that sort of scale. That in essence was the brief that I was working to.
02:21 - 02:36
Speaker 2
Don't normally do this, but may I commend you on what I think is a very diligent and comprehensive report. I think we all owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you. Could we then please go to Mark, you've many times before this committee, please introduce yourselves.
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