Covid grant overpayments
Dear Oxford City Council,
1. How many overpayments has Oxford City Council identified for claims made as part of the covid COVID-related government grant schemes it administered, for example, but not limited to small business rates grant schemes, retail, hospital and leisure grant schemes?
2. If such overpayments did occur, please could you tell me the reasons they occurred, such as Council administration error, ineligible or fraudulent claim.
3. For any overpayment, please provide specific details of the type of claim and cost for each individual claim.
4. How many overpayments has the Council reclaimed and how many reclaims is the Council currently pursuing?
5. How many overpayments have the Council written off and for why they were unable to recover money.
6. What is the total cost of overpayments to the taxpayer to date?
Please present information in spreadsheet format.
Yours faithfully,
Anna Coleridge
Dear Anna Coleridge
Freedom of Information Request, Oxford City Council - Reference:
FOI2023/00222
Thank you for your email. Your request was received on 28 August 2023 and
you will be sent a response by 25th September in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000/ Environmental Information Regulations
2004 (EIR), subject to the information not being exempt or containing
reference to a third party.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council |
Town Hall | St Aldate's | Oxford | OX1 1BX
Website: [1]www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter:
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Dear Anna Coleridge
Please find attached a response to your request for information received
on 28 August.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council |
Town Hall | St Aldate's | Oxford | OX1 1BX
Website: [1]www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter:
[2]www.twitter.com/OxfordCity | Like us on Facebook:
[3]www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil
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Dear Freedom of Information Team,
Can you please provide clarification regarding the stage of recovery of these grants? When were they referred to Government for consultation and when do you expect a response and start the recovery process?
Why has it been necessary to refer these grants to central government in the first place?
How many of the 22 recipients of grants are still trading?
You claim that you had stringent pre-payment checks in place, yet you paid money into a private bank account. That does not seem very stringent.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Coleridge
Dear Anna Coleridge
Please find below a response to your request for information received on
28 August.
Request
Can you please provide clarification regarding the stage of recovery of
these grants? When were they referred to Government for consultation and
when do you expect a response and start the recovery process? Why has it
been necessary to refer these grants to central government in the first
place? How many of the 22 recipients of grants are still trading? You
claim that you had stringent pre-payment checks in place, yet you paid
money into a private bank account.
Response
All information has been published by Central Government and can be found
here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
All 22 outstanding cases have been invoiced and had 2 reminders if they
are still unpaid. As stated in the Government guidance, these unpaid
invoices will be passed onto Central Government by a prescribed date.
All Grant reconciliation were passed to Government - there were different
dates for different grants types, please see the annex sections of the
Government Guidance.
As to payments to directors' bank accounts, there was no regulation to pay
only business bank accounts when the grants were paid, the regulations
came after the payments were processed.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council |
Town Hall | St Aldate's | Oxford | OX1 1BX
Website: [1]www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter:
[2]www.twitter.com/OxfordCity | Like us on Facebook:
[3]www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil
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Dear Oxford City Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Oxford City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Covid grant overpayments'.
The response you provided on 03 October 2023 (FOI2023 00222.pdf) is exactly the same as you provided on 27 September 2023. Was this a mistake?
You did address the questions submitted on 29 September 2023.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Anna Coleridge
Dear Ms Coleridge,
Please see in attachment the email I sent to you earlier,
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Freedom of Information Officer
| Freedom of Information Team | Law & Governance | Oxford City Council | St Aldates Chambers | St Aldates | Oxford | OX1 1DS |
For any Data Protection queries please send the email directly to the [email address] mailbox
Dear Oxford City Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Oxford City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Covid grant overpayments'.
The attachment was not included in your earlier response.
In your second reply you state: "All 22 outstanding cases have been invoiced and had 2 reminders if they are still unpaid." Please provide clarification as to how many outstanding cases remain unpaid. Please provide clarification as to how many of the 22 businesses with outstanding payments are still operating.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Anna Coleridge
Dear Anna Coleridge
Please find below a response to your additional request for information
received on 28 August.
Request
Why has it been necessary to refer these grants to central government in
the first place?
How many of the 22 recipients of grants are still trading?
Response
Cases are referred to Central Governmenet
20 cases totally unpaid, 2 cases have now been partially repaid as they
contacted us and are on a repayment plan. Data as of the 08/09/23.
Only 2 of these businesses with outstanding repayments were still
operating as of the 08/09/23.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council |
Town Hall | St Aldate's | Oxford | OX1 1BX
Website: [1]www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter:
[2]www.twitter.com/OxfordCity | Like us on Facebook:
[3]www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil
References
Visible links
1. http://www.oxford.gov.uk/
2. http://www.twitter.com/OxfordCity
3. http://www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil
Dear Freedom of Information Team,
With only two of the 22 businesses still operating, it would seem that these companies were setup with the sole intent of obtaining covid grants by fraudulent means. You can send out as many letters as you like demanding money back, but it would seem extremely unlikely you will have any luck.
A disgraceful waste of taxpayer money.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Coleridge
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