A total of £1.1bn of government loans given to small businesses during the pandemic have been classified as fraud so far, according to Reuters.
The figure is due to be published as part of new data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), a government source told the news agency, giving a firmer indication of how widespread the issue could be.
Around £47bn of COVID bounce back loans were handed out to smaller firms to support them during UK lockdowns.
Earlier this year, the National Audit Office estimated as much as £5bn of this could have been fraudulently claimed.
And while the £1.1bn figure is lower, it only accounts for fraud identified so far, meaning more could surface as further investigations take place.
Sky News understands the data is due to be published on Monday.
As the then Chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced the bounce back loan scheme in May 2020 as businesses across the country were forced to shut up shop because of…
