Recommendation 17

We asked the Department if it was confident that enough was being done to tackle medium and bottom-tier fraud, to ensure there is a sufficient deterrent for smaller-scale fraud. It recognised that deterrence is “important” and was “on their minds”. In such cases, the Department said that although criminal prosecution was unlikely, there were “personal consequences” for businesses who wish to take out credit in the future, or for company directors who may face disqualification by the Insolvency Service.42 We noted, however, that this might not be a sufficient deterrent effect for some individuals, such as fraudsters who have no interest in running a business or being a company director in the future.43 41 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.13, 2.15 42 Qq 65, 70, 83 43 Qq 87–89 Bounce Back Loans Scheme: Follow-up 15 2 Lessons learned Long-term impact of the Scheme