About half of Covid-19 grants that wind turbine owners received not repaid
The auditor general estimates that £13.5m could have been paid to recipients who were not eligible under the scheme rules.£5.68m of potentially ineligible payments, including £2m in duplicate paymentTo date, £1.76m of this has been recovered and efforts continue to recover the balance, although it is not clear how much will be recouped.
He said it was "important to recognise that this scheme was designed and launched under exceptionally challenging circumstances and at an extreme pace". However he added that lessons could still be learned: "In particular, I want to highlight the importance of a collaborative approach in developing similar schemes in the future.
"Better early engagement across departmental boundaries and with business representatives would have helped the department target support to those most in need. "A small amount of additional time at the design stage may have provided more protection to public funds and helped reduce the need for changes to the eligibility criteria after the scheme had launched."
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