Government branded ‘dangerously flat-footed’ in recovering £1.9bn of Covid loan losses

The bounce back loan scheme was set up in the early days of the Covid-19 lockdowns when businesses across the country were forced to close or faced a drop-off in demand - (Getty/iStock)

The government has been branded "dangerously flat-footed" in its efforts to recover nearly £2 billion in estimated taxpayer losses from the Covid-19 bounce back loan scheme, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticised the lack of incentive for lenders to pursue the recovery of these funds, highlighting a significant gap in the scheme's oversight.