Thread by @CFPData

Thread on our new briefing: Why HMRC can, and should, publish the names of the UK employers given more than £41 billion of furlough support. centreforpublicdata.org/furlough-suppo…

MPs and journalists are keen to know which employers have been given taxpayers’ money to furlough employees. But HMRC says the law forbids it to do so, because it has a ‘duty of confidentiality’ to companies - see e.g. this written question. theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2020…

We don’t think this is a correct interpretation of the law. The covering legislation has an exemption allowing HMRC to disclose information to meet its ‘functions’ - allowing it to disclose things that it otherwise couldn't. See section (18)(2)(a) of legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/11/….

HMRC cited this exemption in 2016, when it was taken to court for leaking to a journalist. It lost that case - but the Supreme Court said info could be disclosed where ‘reasonably necessary’ for HMRC’s ‘primary function’ of revenue collection & management. bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/…

Now, HMRC estimates that up to £4 billion of furlough has been affected by fraud or error - mostly when employers claimed cash, but didn’t actually pass it on to employees. That’s a lot of money by any measure. See this National Audit Office report. nao.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

HMRC estimates it will recover just £275m of (up to) £4bn lost to fraud. However, if it published employers’ names and grants, then employees could spot where their employer didn’t furlough staff in a way that adds up. These employees could then, privately, whistleblow to HMRC.

This would enormously increase the number of fraud-detection leads that HMRC would acquire - potentially recovering millions or even billions more.

This kind of serious policy option that would otherwise be ruled out is what the exemption is designed for. If HMRC truly operates on a cost-benefit basis, it must conclude the costs of any harm will be small, compared with the size of the fraud that could be detected.

It is therefore our view that HMRC can, quite legally, publish data on which businesses were given which grants to cover furlough - and that doing so now would be by far the cheapest and most effective way to recover large amounts of public money.

Read the full briefing here: centreforpublicdata.org/furlough-suppo…

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We are very grateful to @fjmd1 and @GoodLawProject for advice on this. Any errors are CFPD’s alone.

Bonus fact for sticking to the end: The US, home of free enterprise 🇺🇸, publishes comprehensive, detailed data on the employers benefiting from the equivalent job support scheme there. home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/…