Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 4
34th Report - Department for Business and Trade Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24
Published 25 Jun 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Work of the Department for Business and Trade All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department’s efforts to recover fraud losses incurred through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme have been largely unsuccessful, with only a small fraction of losses recovered to date, for which the Department is unable to confirm the value. The Department has estimated it will incur a total loss of at least £1.9 billion due to fraud within the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. The Department remains reliant primarily on lenders to recover losses due to fraud, despite the limited commercial incentives placed on those lenders due to the 100% guarantee provided. Of the amount paid by the Department to lenders under the guarantee, £130 million has been returned, but the Department is unable to confirm how much of this relates to fraud. The highest risk fraud cases were being passed to the National Investigation Service (NATIS) to investigate. But recoveries by NATIS have been minimal, with £8.6 million disclosed in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2023–24. The significant level of fraud within the Bounce Back Loan Scheme has been well known for years and has been subject to previous scrutiny by this Committee. The low value of recoveries, and the lack of clarity on the value of recoveries that relate to cases of suspected fraud, indicate that the actions taken to date by the Department have not been adequate. Following our evidence session in April, on 15 May 2025 the Department announced that its review of NATIS’ performance had shown public money was not being spent effectively, that NATIS would be audited to determine accurate figures for fraud recovery, and that the Insolvency Service will take over NATIS’s viable investigation cases. recommendation a. The Department should write to the Committee to provide the key findings from the NATIS audit, including the value of recoveries. b. The Department should write to the Committee in one year, to provide information on the performance of the Insolvency Service in recovering amounts lost due to fraud. 6
From: Public Accounts Committee, 34th Report - Department for Business and Trade Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 (HC 818), 25 June 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fourth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 25 August 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fourth report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations on the Department for Business and Trade's 2023-24 accounts, setting target implementation dates between September 2025 and August 2026.
- On the Horizon schemes, the department is finalising letters to remaining eligible Horizon Shortfall Scheme claimants, "expected to be implemented by September 2025". It will also write to those yet to register for redress under the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, aiming to complete this "by the end of September 2025".
- Overturned Convictions claims transferred to the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme from 3 June 2025. The department confirms the same principles will apply, "ensuring no OC claimant is disadvantaged", and says it will publish further guidance by the end of Summer 2025.
- On Post Office funding, the department will write to the Committee in Autumn 2025. It will also give a formal notification to the Committee "when the Letter of Comfort to the Post Office Limited is issued", with a Winter 2025 target date.
- On Bounce Back Loan fraud, the department will submit written findings of a Government Internal Audit Agency audit "before the end of August 2026". It will write to the Committee in one year on Insolvency Service performance, providing information "that is obtainable".