The ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme was introduced by the UK Government to encourage people to return to restaurants after lockdown rules had been lifted. The Eat Out to Help Out Scheme allowed restaurants to claim half the price of a meal from the Government, whilst customers would pay the other half. The maximum amount claimable was £10 per customer.
The Eat Out to Help Out scheme was open to fraudulent abuse because the Government largely relied on businesses to report the meals which had been purchased by customers, and in return the Government would pay up to half of the reported cost back to the business.
However, it is alleged that some businesses dishonestly overreported their sales, leading to the Government paying an inflated sum for meals which had never actually been consumed. Other allegations include claims that meals ordered as takeaways had been eaten in the restaurant or that claims for the cost of alcohol were being put through the scheme illegally.
HMRC has taken an interest in pursuing businesses it believes have dishonestly claimed money from the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. Its officers have conducted searches of tills and physically visited restaurants to verify that the business is capable of accommodating the reported number of diners and to check that the sales did in fact take place.