Recommendation 2

A lack of certainty about the COVID-19 support schemes has undermined businesses’ ability to plan effectively. We recognise that it is not easy to provide support to everyone considering the unique circumstances of each individual and business. However, the uncertainties around the timings and details of schemes have made a difficult situation more uncertain for those in need of urgent support. For example, HMRC could not provide clarity on whether the Job Retention Bonus scheme had been delayed or scrapped. Such lack of clarity may lead to unnecessary hardships for some businesses, who in good faith were relying on the payments from the scheme to meet some of their needs. HMRC’s lack of timely evaluation of schemes, such as the Eat Out to Help Out (EOTHO) scheme, to inform possible future iterations of the initiatives may also result in delays to their reintroduction and hinder their effectiveness. Recommendation: HMRC should, within six weeks of publication of this report, write to us to set out what lessons have been learned from the timing and content of its communications, such as about the future of the Job Retention Bonus scheme, and how those lessons might have improved the outcomes of the support schemes. 6 HMRC performance 2019–20