British government response to the COVID-19 pandemic

This article is about the British government's response. For that of other nations, see National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the arrival of COVID-19 in the UK, Her Majesty's Government and the governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have responded in various ways.

Overview

File:COVID arwydd Coronafeirws.jpg

Bilingual information from Welsh Government and NHS Wales with lockdown instructions at Aberystwyth railway station, 4 April 2020

NHS England coronavirus poster, February 2020

The first published government statement on the coronavirus situation in Wuhan was released on 22 January 2020 by the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England. Guidance has progressed in line with the number of cases detected and changes in where affected people have contracted the virus, as well as with what has been happening in other countries. In February, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to the UK Government, Chris Whitty said "we basically have a strategy which depends upon four tactical aims: the first one is to contain; the second of these is to delay; the third of these is to do the science and the research; and the fourth is to mitigate so we can brace the NHS". These aims equate to four phases; specific actions involved in each of these phases are:

• Contain: detect early cases, follow up close contacts, and prevent the disease from taking hold in this country for as long as is reasonably possible
• Delay: slow the spread within the UK, and (if it does take hold) lower the peak impact and push it away from the winter season
• Research: better understand the virus and the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population; innovate responses including diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines; use the evidence to inform the development of the most effective models of care
• Mitigate: provide the best care possible for people who become ill, support hospitals to maintain essential services and ensure ongoing support for people ill in the community, to minimise the overall impact of the disease on society, public services and on the economy.

The four UK CMOs raised the UK's risk level from low to moderate on 30 January 2020, upon the WHO's announcement of the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As soon as cases appeared in the UK on 31 January 2020, a public health information campaign, similar to the previous "Catch it, Bin it, Kill it" campaign, was launched in the UK, to advise people how to lessen the risk of spreading the virus. Travellers from Hubei province in China, including the capital Wuhan, were advised to self-isolate, "stay at home, not go to work, school or public places, not use public transport or taxis; ask friends, family members or delivery services to do errands", and call NHS 111 if they had arrived in the UK in the previous 14 days, regardless of whether they were unwell or not. Further cases in early February prompted the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, to announce the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020. Daily updates have been published by the DHSC. NHS Digital in the meanwhile, have been collecting data.

NHS England poster for the "Catch it, Bin it, Kill it" slogan which has been revived in the fight against coronavirus

On 25 February 2020, the UK CMOs advised all travellers (unwell or not) who had returned to the UK from Hubei province in the previous 14 days, Iran, specific areas designated by the Italian government as quarantine areas in northern Italy, and special care zones in South Korea since 19 February, to self-isolate and call NHS 111. This advice was also advocated for any person with flu-like symptoms and a history of travelling from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and areas in Italy north of Pisa, Florence and Rimini, returning to the UK since 19 February. Later, self-isolation was recommended for anyone returning from any part of Italy from 9 March.

Initially, Prime Minister Boris Johnson largely kept Britain open, resisting the kind of lockdowns seen elsewhere in Europe. In a speech on 3 February, Johnson's main concern was that the "coronavirus will trigger a panic and a desire for market segregation that go beyond what is medically rational to the point of doing real and unnecessary economic damage". On 11 February, a "senior member of the government" told the ITV journalist Robert Peston that "If there is a pandemic, the peak will be March, April, May" and, further, that "the risk is 60% of the population getting it. With a mortality rate of perhaps just over 1%, we are looking at not far off 500,000 deaths".

On 13 March, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance told BBC Radio 4 one of "the key things we need to do" is to "build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission". This involves enough people getting infected, upon which they develop immunity to the disease. Vallance said 60% of the UK's population will need to become infected for herd immunity to be achieved. This stance was criticised by experts who said it would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths and overwhelm the NHS. More than 200 scientists urged the government to rethink the approach in an open letter. Subsequently, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that herd immunity was not a plan for the UK, and the Department of Health and Social Care said that "herd immunity is a natural byproduct of an epidemic". On 4 April, The Times reported that Graham Medley, a member of the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), was still advocating a "herd immunity" strategy. There was a letter published in The Lancet on 17 March calling on the government to openly share its data and models as a matter of urgency.

On 2 March, Johnson said in an interview with BBC News: "The most important thing now is that we prepare against a possible very significant expansion of coronavirus in the UK population". This came after the 39th case in the UK was confirmed and over a month after the first confirmed case in the UK. The same day, a BBC One programme Coronavirus: Everything You Need to Know addressed questions from the public on the outbreak. The following day, the Coronavirus Action Plan was unveiled. The next day, as the total number of cases in the UK stood at 51, the government declared the coronavirus pandemic as a "level 4 incident", permitting NHS England to take command of all NHS resources. Planning has been made for behaviour changing publicity including good hygiene and respiratory hygiene ("catch it, bin it, kill it"), a measure designed to delay the peak of the infection and allow time for the testing of drugs and initial development of vaccines. Primary care has been issued guidance.

Public Health England has also been involved with efforts to support the British Overseas Territories against the outbreak.

On 23 March, a 20,000-strong military task force, named the COVID Support Force, was launched to provide support to public services and civilian authorities. Two military operations — Operation Rescript and Operation Broadshare — commenced to address the outbreak within the United Kingdom and its overseas territories.

On 27 March, Johnson said he had contracted coronavirus and was self-isolating, and that he would continue to lead the Government's response to coronavirus through video conference. On the evening of 5 April the Prime Minister was admitted to hospital for tests. The next day he was moved to the intensive care unit at St Thomas' Hospital, and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab deputised for him. On 11 July 2020, the MPs urged the Prime Minister to clarify on wearing masks, after he hinted a day earlier that it could become compulsory to wear them in shops.

On 9 September 2020, the UK government announced the banning of social gatherings of more than six people, which was to be implemented from 14 September, amidst rising cases of coronavirus. A £100 fine was initiated to be imposed on the people who fail to comply, doubling on each offense up to a maximum of £3,200.

Progression between phases

On 12 March, the government announced it was moving out of the contain phase and into the delay phase of the response to the coronavirus outbreak. The announcement said that in the following weeks, the government would introduce further social distancing measures for older and vulnerable people, and asking them to self-isolate regardless of symptoms. It announcement sidd that if the next stage were introduced too early, the measures would not protect at the time of greatest risk but they could have a huge social impact. The government said that its decisions were based on careful modelling and that government measures would only be introduced that were supported by clinical and scientific evidence.

Classification of the disease

From 19 March, Public Health England, consistent with the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, no longer classified COVID-19 as a "High consequence infectious disease" (HCID). This reversed an interim recommendation made in January 2020, due to more information about the disease confirming low overall mortality rates, greater clinical awareness, and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase. The statement said "the need to have a national, coordinated response remains" and added, "this is being met by the government's COVID-19 response". This meant cases of COVID-19 are no longer managed by HCID treatment centres only.

Communications

UK Government advisory SMS message, 24 March 2020

On 16 March, the UK government started holding daily press briefings. The briefings were to be held by the Prime Minister or government ministers and advisers. The government had been accused of a lack of transparency over their plans to tackle the virus. Daily briefings were also held by the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The speakers at the daily press briefings were accompanied by sign language interpreters. British sign language is a recognised language in Scotland and Wales, with interpreters standing 2 metres behind Ministers. Northern Ireland's briefings had both British and Irish Sign Language interpreters who were shown on a small screen in the press conference room. The UK briefing did not have an interpreter in the room or on a screen leading to a twitter campaign about the issue. The UK government reached an agreement to have the press conferences signed on the BBC News Channel and on iPlayer in response to the campaign. In response to this a petition was created by Sylvia Simmonds that required the UK government to use sign language interpreters for emergency announcements. Legal firm, Fry Law looked to commence court proceedings as they said the government had broken the Equality Act 2010, but also said that the government was doing the bare minimum and were crowdfunding to cover the government's legal costs if they lost.

On 24 March, all major mobile telephony providers, acting upon a government request, sent out an SMS message to each of their customers, with advice on staying isolated. This was the first ever use of the facility. Although the government in 2013 endorsed the use of Cell Broadcast to send official emergency messages to all mobile phones, and has tested such a system, it has never actually been implemented. Backer Toby Harris said the government had not yet agreed upon who would fund and govern such a system.

Prior pandemic planning

The UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy was published in 2011 and updated in 2014, alongside a review of the available medical and social countermeasures . Pandemic flu guidance was published in 2013 and updated in 2017 covering guidance for local planners, business sectors, and an ethical framework for the government response. The guidance stated:

There are important differences between 'ordinary' seasonal flu and pandemic flu. These differences explain why we regard pandemic flu as such a serious threat. Pandemic influenza is one of the most severe natural challenges likely to affect the UK.

In June 2020, the Permanent Secretary at the Treasury Tom Scholar and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Alex Chisholm told the Public Accounts Committee that in 2016 the government simulated an international flu outbreak, but the civil service did not subsequently create a plan for dealing with the pandemic's effects on the economy.

Regulations and legislation

Restaurant in London offering home deliveries after dining-in was banned. March 2020.

The government published the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 on 10 February 2020, a statutory instrument covering the legal framework behind the government's initial containment and isolation strategies and its organisation of the national reaction to the virus for England. Other published regulations include changes to Statutory sick pay (into force on 13 March), and changes to Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit (also 13 March).

On 19 March, the government introduced the Coronavirus Act 2020, which grants the government discretionary emergency powers in the areas of the NHS, social care, schools, police, the Border Force, local councils, funerals and courts. The act received royal assent on 25 March 2020.

Closures to pubs, restaurants and indoor sports and leisure facilities were imposed in England via the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Business Closure) (England) Regulations 2020.

The restrictions on movements, except for allowed purposes, were:

• Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 (and subsequent amendments)
  • Since replaced by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020
• Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020
• Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) Regulations 2020
• The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020

In England from 15 June 2020, the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 required travellers on public transport to wear a face covering.

On 25 June 2020, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 was enacted to provide additional protections to companies in financial difficulty as a result of the impacts of the pandemic.

Financial response

Many UK businesses have been required to close during the pandemic

Following the a lockdown being announced by the government after the COVID-19 virus reached the country, a financial package designed to help employers and businesses was announced.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a furlough scheme in the United Kingdom in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 20 March 2020. The scheme was announced on 20 March as providing grants to employers to pay 80% of a staff wage each month, up to a total of £2,500 per person per month. The scheme initially ran for three months and was backdated to the start of March. Following a three-week extension of the countrywide lockdown the scheme was extended until the end of June 2020.

Initially the scheme was only for those workers who started work at their company on or before 28 February 2020; this was later changed to 19 March 2020 (i.e. the day before the scheme was announced), making 200,000 additional workers eligible. On the first day of operation 140,000 companies applied to use the scheme.

At the end of May, the scheme was extended until the end of October but confirmed that it would end at that point. The cost has been estimated at £14 billion a month to run. The decision to extend the job retention scheme was made to avoid or defer mass redundancies, company bankruptcies and potential unemployment levels not seen since the 1930s. From August, National Insurance and pension contributions must be paid by employers, as well as 10% of wages from September, rising to 20% in October. From July staff can return to part-time work without affecting eligibility, but companies must cover all wages for the hours worked. In addition, the scheme will close to new entrants from 30 June, and as claims are made for staff at the end of a three-week period, the last date an employee can be furloughed for the first time is 10 June. As of 27 May, 8.4 million employees had been furloughed under the scheme.

At the end of July businesses were incentivised to keep on any employee brought back from furlough, by the government promising to pay businesses £1000 for every person they brought back and still had employed in January 2021 as part of the Job Retention Bonus. Several companies stated that they would not be partaking in the scheme.

By the 15 August 80,433 firms had returned £215,756,121 that had been claimed under the scheme. Other companies had claimed smaller amounts of grant cash on the next instalment to compensate for any over payment. HMRC officials believe £3.5bn may have been paid out in error or to fraudsters. Games Workshop, Bunzl, the Spectator magazine, Redrow, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey were among the companies who returned all the furlough money they had claimed.

Job Support Scheme

On 24 September the Government announced a second scheme to protect jobs called the Job Support Scheme. This scheme will commence in November 2020 after the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be withdrawn at the end of October 2020.

Self Employed Income Support Scheme

In March the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) was announced. The scheme paid a grant worth 80% of self employed profits profits up to £2,500 each month, on companies who's trading profit was less than £50,000 in the 2018-19 financial year or an average less than £50,000 over the last three financial tax years for those who suffered a loss of income. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) were tasked with contacting those who were eligible and the grant was taxable. The government also had announced a six-month delay on tax payments. Self employed workers who pay themselves a salary and dividends are not covered by the scheme and instead had to apply for the job retention scheme. The scheme went live on 13 May. The scheme went live ahead of schedule and people were invited to claim on a specific date between 13 and 18 May based on their Unique Tax Reference number. Claimants would receive their money by 25 May or within six days of a completed claim. By 15 May, more than 1 million self employed people had applied to the scheme. At the end of May a second grant of up to £6,570 that would be paid in August was announced.

Business grants

The government announced Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) and changes to the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) on 17 March. The SBGF was changed from £3,000 to £10,000, while the RHLGF offered grants of up to £25,000. £12.33 billion in funding was committed to the SBGF and the RHLGF schemes with another £617 million added at the start of May. RHLGF and SBGF only applied to business in England. The government pledge £3.5 billion in funding for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to support to businesses.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme

On 23 March the Government announced the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) for small and medium-sized businesses and Covid Corporate Financing Facility for large companies. The government banned banks from seeking personal guarantees on Coronavirus Business Interruption loans under £250,000 following complaints. Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) was announced on 3 April and later tweaked to include more companies. In May the amount a company could borrow on the scheme was raised from £50 million to £200 million. Restrictions were put in place on companies on the scheme including dividends payout and bonuses to members of the board. On 20 April the Government announced a scheme worth £1.25 billion to support innovative new companies that could not claim for coronavirus rescue schemes.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme

The government additionally announced the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) for small and medium size businesses on 27 April. The scheme offered loans of up to £50,000 and was interest free for the first year before an interest rate of 2.5% a year was applied, with the loan being paid back within ten years. Businesses who had an existing CBILS loan of up to £50,000 could transfer on to this scheme, but had to do so by 30 November 2020. The scheme launched on 4 May. The loan was 100% guaranteed by the government and was designed to be simpler than the CBILS scheme. More than 130,000 BBLS applications were received by banks on the first day of operation with more than 69,500 being approved. On 12 May almost £15 billion of state aid had been given to businesses.

Government contracts

The Guardian reported that after the government had suspended the standard tender process so contracts could to be issued "with extreme urgency", over a billion pounds of state contracts had been awarded under the new fast-track rules. The contracts were to provide food parcels, personal protective equipment (PPE) and assist in operations. The largest contract was handed to Edenred by the Department for Education, it was worth £234 million and was for the replacement of free school meals. Randox Laboratories who have Owen Paterson as a paid consultant were given a £130 million contract to produce testing kits. In addition 16 contracts totalling around £20 million were agreed to provide HIV and malaria drugs, which were thought might be a cure to COVID-19.

Project Birch

Main article: Project Birch

The government announced a plan to financially support large companies affected by the pandemic.

Other schemes

The UK government announced a £750 million package of support for charities across the UK. £370 million of the money was set aside to support small, local charities working with vulnerable people. £60 million of £370 was allocated to charities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the following breakdown

• £30 million for Scotland
• £20 million for Wales
• £10 million for Northern Ireland.

On 13 May the Government announced that it was underwriting trade credit insurance, to prevent businesses struggling in the pandemic from having no insurance cover.

The Rugby Football League was the recipient of a £16 million loan in May 2020 to prevent the professional game from collapsing, especially as England were hosts of the next World Cup. In July 2020 the government pledged £1.57 billion for the arts, culture and heritage industries in the UK. At the end of July a £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme was announced with the intention of providing COVID insurance so that production companies could start making programmes again. It was available for any production that started filming before the end of 2020 and would cover them through to June 2021.

Scottish Government

Further information: COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland

On 28 April the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, advised the voluntary use of non-medical grade cloth face masks in Scotland to be used in enclosed spaces such as shops and public transport, but not generally in public (excluding those who are under two years old or who have respiratory illnesses such as asthma). Sturgeon noted their limitation and said co-operation with the face mask guidance was voluntary. This is in contrast to advice given by Boris Johnson and the UK government.

Lifting lockdown

In mid-April, a member of the Cabinet told The Telegraph that there was no exit plan yet. Several members of the UK government stated that it was not possible to draw up a definitive plan on how to exit lockdown as it is based on scientific advice.

New COVID-19 cases and deaths in the UK, with the dates of lockdown and its partial lifting. This shows both the Covid death figures confirmed by tests and the figures registered by 3 authorities

In early May, research was published which concluded that if the most vulnerable (the elderly and those with certain underlying illnesses) were completely shielded, the lockdown could mostly be lifted, avoiding "a huge economic, social and health cost", without significantly increasing severe infections and deaths. It also recommended regular testing and contact tracing.

On 8 May the Welsh Government relaxed restrictions on exercise and allowed some garden centres and recycling facilities would reopen. Nicola Sturgeon stated that she wanted all nations to make changes together as it would give the public a clear and consistent message. Boris Johnson acknowledged different areas move at slightly different speeds with actions based on the science for each area. Scotland announced a similar measure in terms on exercise as Wales, to go live on the same day.

Johnson made a second televised address on 10 May, changing the slogan from 'Stay at Home' to 'Stay Alert'. He also outlined how restrictions might end and introduced a COVID-19 warning system. Additionally measures were announced stating that the public could exercise more than once a day in outdoor spaces such as parks, could interact with others whilst maintaining social distance and drive to other destinations from 13 May in England. This was leaked to the press and criticised by leaders and ministers of the four nations, who said it would cause confusion. The leaders of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales said they would not adopt the new slogan. The Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething said that the four nations had not agreed to it and the Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said that they were not consulted on the change. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that the new message "lacked clarity". The Guardian were told that neither Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, or Sir Patrick Vallance, government's chief scientific adviser, had given the go ahead for the new slogan. Witty later said at a Downing Street press conference that "Neither Sir Patrick nor I consider ourselves to be comms experts, so we’re not going to get involved in actual details of comms strategies, but we are involved in the overall strategic things and we have been at every stage." The slogan was criticised by members of SAGE. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "We mustn't squander progress by easing up too soon or sending mixed messages. People will die unnecessarily."

The next day the government published a 60-page roadmap of what exiting lockdown could look like. A document was additionally published outlining nine points which applied to England, with an update of measures from 13 May. As the rules between England and Wales were different in terms of exercise, many officials warned against the public driving to destinations in Wales for exercise. The Counsel General for Wales, Jeremy Miles, said visitors could be fined if they drove into Wales for leisure. Sturgeon gave a similar warning about driving into Scotland. She additionally said that politicians and the media must be clear about what they are saying for different parts of the UK after Johnson's address did not state which measures only applied to England. On 17 May, Labour leader Keir Starmer called for a 'four-nation' unified approach. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said that there was a risk of national unity in ignoring the different demands of regions in England. Boris Johnson acknowledged the frustrations in some of the rules and said that "complicated messages were needed during the next phase of the response and as restrictions changed".

The Northern Ireland Executive published a five-stage plan for exiting lockdown on 12 May, but unlike the plans announced in England the plans did not include any dates of when steps may be taken. An announcement was made on 14 May that garden centres and recycling centres would reopen on Monday in the first steps taken to end the lockdown in Northern Ireland.

On 15 May, Mark Drakeford announced a traffic light plan to remove the lockdown restrictions in Wales, which would start no earlier than 29 May. On 20 June 2020, a group of cross-party MPs wrote a letter to the government, urging them to consider a four-day working week for the UK post COVID-19.

While nationwide lockdown measures were gradually relaxed throughout the summer, including a shift towards regional measures such as those instituted in Northern England in July, lockdown easing plans were delayed at the end of July due to rises in case numbers, and measures were increased once more following the resurgence of the virus nationwide starting in early September.

By 1 October 2020, around a quarter of the population of the United Kingdom, about 16.8 million people, were subject to local lockdown measures with some 23% of people in England, 76% of people in Wales and 32% of people in Scotland being in local lockdown.

Reaction and criticism

See also: Criticism of the British government response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Sunak was asked to rapidly act to help by the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell. The acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, said that people were being unfairly "hung out to dry", with "their dream jobs turning into nightmares" after hundreds of MPs contacted the Chancellor.

The Institute for Employment Studies estimated that 100,000 people could not be eligible for any type of government help as they started a new job to too late to be included on the job retention scheme. While UKHospitality informed the Treasury Select Committee that between 350,000 and 500,000 workers in its sector were not eligible.

Following changes to the scheme at the end of May, the director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium said that being asked to pay wages when businesses had not been trading was an added pressure. While the Federation of Small Businesses were surprised that the Chancellor had announced a tapering of the scheme when ending it. Northern Ireland's economy minister Diane Dodds said that changes to the scheme could be very difficult for some sectors uncertain about when they can reopen, particularly in the hospitality and retail sector, whilst finance minister Conor Murphy said that it was too early in the economic recovery.

In 2002, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak promised to do “whatever it takes” to protect business from COVID-19 damage, laying out a mix of tax breaks, employee subsidies (‘furloughing’) as well as grants and loans to business that will cost more than £100 billion. TaxWatch UK has analysed the Bank of England's list of 53 beneficiaries of business loans, and found that thirteen companies – receiving 29% of the money – have links to offshore tax havens (including Chanel in the Cayman Islands or Wizz Air in Jersey), or sweetheart locations like the Netherlands (where construction equipment manufacturer JCB is registered). JCB paid family shareholders a dividend of £75 million in 2018. The BBC reported that Tottenham Hotspur football club secured a low-interest loan of £175 million, despite being owned by billionaire tax exile Joe Lewis. Wizz Air took government money whilst granting generous share options to senior managers, worth £1.5 million to chief executive József Váradi and £850,000 to chief operating officer Diederick Pen. The Times reported that two of the biggest beneficiaries of Covid emergency funding paid no UK tax at all. CNH Industrial, which owns the Iveco lorry firm, borrowed £600 million; the giant German chemicals group BASF claimed £1 billion. Both companies claimed credits from the taxpayer in recent years, rather than paying in. Another claimant, Baker Hughes, is a subsidiary of General Electric which is contesting an HMRC claim of £1 billion tax fraud.

External links

• Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: step by step guide for employers, Gov.uk
• "The Coronavirus Act 2020 Functions of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) Direction" (PDF). publishing.service.gov.uk. 15 April 2020.
• "FAQs: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 7 May 2020.