The HMRC is looking into nearly 13,000 potential cases of abuse of the government's Covid support schemes.

By the end of March, HM Revenue & Custom was investigating 12,828 possibly fraudulent claims on the furlough scheme, Eat Out to Help Out or self-employed support, as reported by the Daily Mail.

The data, obtained through a freedom of information request by law firm BLM, showed that the majority of the cases were for furlough fraud - with 7,384 cases under investigation.

The UK taxpayer has so far paid out £64bn in furlough cash to people who have been unable to work during the pandemic.