Recommendation 16

Another source of error acknowledged by HM Treasury was that not every authority had automated systems in place from the start that could prevent duplicate payments. Many local authorities were relying on data and systems which could not be used to easily identify which businesses were eligible for grants. Local authorities were key partners in the delivery of many COVID schemes, but having faced financial pressures over recent years it is not clear how far investment in IT infrastructure has been maintained. The requirements of this grant scheme underline the impact of that underinvestment. HM Treasury described the shortcomings in local authority systems as another thing that it should have known but did not know at the time.30