Pestfix, a West Sussex-based pest control supplies company that landed contracts worth nearly £350m to fight the pandemic, has claimed thousands of pounds in furlough through its official company name Crisp Websites Ltd.
Pestfix was in a “VIP lane”, in which politically connected firms were ten times more likely to win lucrative COVID contacts. A National Audit Office report in November found that Pestfix had been added to the high-priority lane “in error”.
Pestfix had previously told The Telegraph that it had stopped claiming furlough in December but new government data published last month shows that the company continued to receive payments in January.
A PestFix spokesman told openDemocracy: “Like many other small businesses, PestFix briefly furloughed four staff members to comply with government social distancing guidelines and protect the safety of our employees, their family and the community.”
The controversial AI company, Faculty Science Ltd also received the support funding, after winning a series of lucrative contracts linked to the pandemic. The firm worked for the Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum, and has been linked to Dominic Cummings.
Cabinet Office minister Lord Agnew, who oversees the Government Digital Service, owned £90,000 worth of shares in Faculty. Agnew sold his stake last year following criticism.
Faculty said it had furloughed four staff since the start of the pandemic either because their work could not be performed remotely or they were not needed because the office was closed.
Bluetree, a printing company based in Rotherham, claimed thousands in furlough payments. Last year, the company announced that it was doubling its workforce after agreeing a £64m contract to supply 352 million medical masks to the NHS.
The Department of Health and Social Care also awarded Urathon Europe Ltd, a wheelchair and mobility firm, a £52.5m contract to supply face masks. The company, based out of the Wiltshire village of Hilmarton, made furlough claims.
Details of furlough payments received before December are being kept private by HMRC, due to confidentiality rules.
Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, which has successfully pursued legal challenges over a number of COVID contracts, said: “Surely there are better places for public money to go than distinctly odd PPE enterprises who have already been given lucrative government contracts? These furlough payments beg the question: how much generosity is enough?”
The Scottish National Party’s spokesperson for Health and Social Care, Philippa Whitford, said: “There seems to have been so many contacts handed to people with connections to the Tory party. What is so shocking now is to find that as well as millions from the public purse being given to companies with connections to the Tories, they have been claiming furlough money as well.”
Print
Peter Geoghegan | Radio Free (2021-04-14T13:00:05+00:00) Revealed: ‘COVID goldrush’ firms receiving millions under UK furlough scheme. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/04/14/revealed-covid-goldrush-firms-receiving-millions-under-uk-furlough-scheme/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.