The report concerns the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs’ administration of the government’s three largest relief packages for businesses that suffered financially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: wage compensation, compensation for self-employed individuals and compensation for fixed expenses.
The purpose of the study is to assess whether the Ministry of Industry has ensured satisfactory administration of the three largest compensation schemes.
The Ministry of Industry’s administration of the three largest compensation schemes has been satisfactory to some extent. The ministry has in a short time implemented the relief packages and ensured fast payment. However, Rigsrevisionen notes that monitoring of the compensation schemes to a very high degree is based on ex-post controls that have been postponed several times and still have not been implemented, and that the ministry should have identified the need for earlier ex-post control of particularly risky payments. This may increase the risk of compensation having been paid to businesses that were not eligible, without the government having any means of claiming back the money.
Rigsrevisionen initiated the study in September 2020.
Read the introduction and conclusion (PDF)