Councils should keep some money recovered from Covid grants paid in error or due to fraud, MPs have said.
However, mandarins gave a cool reaction to the idea as they were quizzed by the Public Accounts Committee about efforts to claw back £1.1bn.
Councils were tasked with delivering the grants to businesses during the pandemic and are responsible for attempting to recover cash paid to ineligible firms or claimed fraudulently.
However, just £11.4m has been recovered and returned to the Government so far.
To continue reading visit The MJ (£).