In the application phase 1 until the end of May 2020, there was “a systematic, unintended and not immediately recognized overpayment in the order of 500 million euros”, according to the report published on Friday by the Court of Auditors.
According to RH, a calculation model that was not suitable was used at the beginning. The determination of the calculation model for the Covid-19 short-time work subsidy in phase 1 was done “under great time pressure”. The handling of short-time work meant “an extraordinary administrative challenge” for the job market service (AMS). “From the summer of 2020, it was possible to stabilize and professionalize the handling process,” said the auditors.
Guideline adapted twelve times
The processing work for the AMS was also increased by the multiple changes to the guidelines for the Corona short-time work allowance between March 2020 and March 2021. According to the Court of Auditors, the original version of the guideline of March 19, 2020 was adapted twelve times by the end of March 2021 – often retrospectively.
The Court of Auditors also missed a control concept “for the targeted detection of unlawful receipt of funding” in the period under review. The AMS only requested working time records in exceptional cases in order to uncover unjustly billed lost hours.
The AMS did not carry out on-site checks on Covid-19 short-time work between March 2020 and the end of March 2021. The costs for short-time work amounted to around 7.8 billion euros by the end of March 2021. By the end of 2021, payments had increased to EUR 9.2 billion. According to the Court of Auditors, wrongly billed lost hours are among the most frequent reports of suspected fraud reported to the AMS.
Different models
The Corona short-time work model was reformed in mid-2021, and since then two different models can be applied for. On the one hand there is an unchanged variant for companies that are particularly affected until the end of March 2022 and on the other hand there is a transitional model with a reduced amount of funding until the end of June 2022. Companies that were already experiencing economic difficulties before the Covid pandemic were actually not entitled to Corona short-time work. According to the Court of Auditors, the Ministry of Labor and the AMS did not succeed in developing criteria for a plausibility check of the central eligibility requirement for the temporary economic difficulties. “The AMS did not carry out a substantive examination of this funding requirement,” says the Court of Auditors’ report. The auditors also rated negatively that experts from the ministry and the AMS were not included in the basic concept of the Corona short-time work test model.
The Court of Auditors cited the following points as the strengths of the Covid short-time work administration: The model was introduced quickly and there was a quick and orderly processing of applications and payments as well as automated control comparisons with social security data.
Recommendations to AMS and Ministry
The Court of Auditors recommends several improvements in connection with the corona short-time work to the Ministry of Labor and the AMS: “The Federal Ministry of Labor and the Public Employment Service should – also in coordination with the Federal Ministry of Finance – develop a control concept with risk-oriented test criteria to cover the automated controls unlawful receipt of funding,” says the Court of Auditors’ report. When designing funding projects, the labor market and funding experts from the responsible authorities should be involved, even under time pressure. The development of specific criteria for assessing the temporary economic difficulties as a prerequisite for the granting of aid is also necessary. The Labor Market Service should also check compliance with the relevant eligibility requirements.
Neos see themselves confirmed
The Neos see their criticism of the Corona short-time work model confirmed by the current Court of Auditors report. “ÖVP and the Greens should rather quickly explain to taxpayers how they want to get back the millions they have unjustly and excessively spent in taxes,” said NEOS economic and social spokesman Gerald Loacker in a broadcast. “A system must now be developed immediately that takes the criticism of the Court of Auditors fully into account” so that one is “armed for the next crisis”.
Source: Nachrichten
