Covid cost the States £97.3m. in two years

Of the £97.3m. between March 2020 and April 2022, capital expenditure made up just £3.7m. of the total.

This was made up of just over £1m. on the exit from lockdown work, £935,000 on ICT and £816,000 on medical equipment. The vaccination programme cost £400,000.

The business support scheme ended up costing £74m. Of this £55m. was for payroll co-funding, but the money was not spread evenly over the two years. In 2020 the scheme cost £40m., but this dropped to £14m. in 2021.

Business grants totalled £9m., with £7.5m. of that in 2020, while the visitor sector scheme cost £8.8m.

Unlike the other schemes, the visitor scheme cost £2.6m. in 2020 and £5.7m in 2021.

The report also notes that £187,000 was paid to individuals to help with self-isolation costs.

Within the report it was highlighted that some businesses had decided to repay their business support payments voluntarily.

The 18 businesses, from across different sectors, repaid £1.2m.

Both the co-funding and business support schemes have been internally audited and an audit of the visitor scheme is under way.

The reviews are confidential.