COVID CON

Eat Out to Help Out, furlough, bounce back loans and support grants fraud cost nation £10.9bn • Enough to give every child in the country a free school dinner for 8 years

- BY ALEXANDER BROWN Assistant Political Editor

COVID fraud and error under bungled Tory pandemic schemes cost taxpayers £10.9billion.

While 230,000 people lost their lives during those days, fraudsters merrily lined their pockets.

Employers' furlough schemes, bounce back loans and the Eat Out to Help Out initiative - launched by Rishi Sunak - were all abused by greedy crooks.

As Covid counterfraud commissioner, Tom Hayhoe was tasked with uncovering the true scale of the swindling.

He will reveal his findings on Tuesday.

Mr Hayhoe is expected to blame a lack of anti-fraud controls in poorly designed schemes set up quickly by Tory ministers.

Rushed rollouts meant "accepting a high level of fraud risk, without plans for managing or mitigating this risk", his report will say.