One Covid loan claimant gambled away £50,000, while another used part of a £35,000 loan to pay for garden improvements. Overall, it's estimated the taxpayer has lost £15 billion to "fraud and error".
Pubs, restaurants and leisure businesses hit by omicron will be eligible for one-off grants of £6,000 in a Christmas aid package announced by Rishi Sunak earlier today. Hospitality bosses say it's too little, too late.
An inquiry into the deaths of 50 residents in a Melbourne care home has unveiled that existing staff were furloughed, depriving the elderly residents of the basic care they needed.
One in 16 U.K. firms could close in the next quarter, according to a new study that suggests a million jobs are at risk as lockdown support schemes come to an end.
50,000 more young people are already out of work compared to pre-lockdown levels, and the IFS says that a further 350,000 people aged 19 to 24 could lose their jobs in the coming months as the furlough scheme winds down.
The Government is "open minded" about extending the furlough scheme, according to Michael Gove. Gove says that high spending in response to Covid will stay in place to help the country "build back better".
Landlords and restaurant owners have called on the Government to end the furlough scheme to help offset a recruitment crisis, saying that those on furlough would rather stay at home than come out and work.
The Government is expected to spend £372 billion in its response to Covid, according to the National Audit Office, with the estimated cost having risen by £100 billion since January.
Firms owned by some of the world's wealthiest people have claimed millions of pounds in furlough money over the past year. £3 million was claimed by the Qatari owners of Harrods and the Ritz in December alone.
