UK Finance is warning that criminals have been exploiting and adapting to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with a growth in fraud and scams that target people online.

The trade association's research revealed that unauthorised fraud fell by 8% to £374.3 million in the first half of 2020 as the banking industry prevented £853 million worth of losses.

The amount lost to Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud was £207.8 million, which was in line with the same period in 2019. Finance providers were able to return £73.1 million of APP fraud losses to victims, up 86% when compared to last year.

However, the growth in online fraud has seen more scams harvest customers' personal and financial details, for example through phishing emails or smishing text messages, which impersonate trusted organisations.

There is often a delay between criminals obtaining people's details and using them to commit fraud, meaning the full losses from COVID-19-related scams in the first half of this year are likely to not yet have been fully realised.

Commenting on the data, Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance, said: 'Criminals have ruthlessly adapted to this pandemic, with scams exploiting the rise in people working from home and spending time online. These range from investment scams promoted on social media and search engines to the use of phishing emails and fake websites to harvest people's data.'

The government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) moves into its final phase this October before a new scheme comes into force.

The CJRS has supported more than nine million people since it was launched by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in March in a bid to protect jobs and businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

However, the CJRS will come to an end on 31 October and is set to cost the Treasury over £34 billion.

Following fears of mass redundancies and loss of businesses, the Chancellor recently unveiled a new Job Support Scheme in his Winter Economy Plan. Furloughed employees will continue to get 80% of their salary until the CJRS finishes at the end of October.

During October, the government will pay 60% of wages up to a cap of £1,875 for the hours an employee is on furlough.

Employers will pay national insurance and employer pension contributions and will top up employees' wages to ensure they receive 80% of their pay, up to a cap of £2,500 for the time they are furloughed.

Research published by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (Chartered IIA) has suggested that cyber security is the top corporate risk for audit executives.

79% of audit executives stated that cyber security is a significant risk for their organisation, with 27% singling it out as the number one risk they face.

According to the Institute, the wide-scale shift to homeworking as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic increased the vulnerability of businesses to cyber-attacks. Few businesses had accounted for such upheaval in such a short span of time, the Chartered IIA said.

Commenting on the matter, John Wood, Chief Executive of the Chartered IIA, said: 'COVID-19 has exacerbated existing risks, forcing organisations to think from completely new angles or assign new levels of priority to them.

'Cyber security is a case in point. Though a perennial front-of-mind risk for boards, the rise in remote working means cyber security issues have taken on a new dimension and IT infrastructure has had to adapt in record time.

'The longer-term implications of this exceptional scenario are still unclear, but we should expect disruption to continue into next year and beyond.'

Business groups have broadly welcomed the extended business support measures announced in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Winter Economy Plan.

Commenting on the Job Support Scheme, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, Director-General at the Confederation of British Industry, said: 'These bold steps from the Treasury will save hundreds of thousands of viable jobs this winter. It is right to target help on jobs with a future but can only be part-time while demand remains flat. This is how skills and jobs can be preserved to enable a fast recovery.

'Wage support, tax deferrals and help for the self-employed will reduce the scarring effect of unnecessary job losses as the UK tackles the virus. Employers will apply the same spirit of creativity, seizing every opportunity to retrain and upskill their workers.'

Adam Marshall, Director General at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 'The measures announced by the Chancellor will give business and the economy an important shot in the arm.

'The Chancellor has responded to our concerns with substantial steps that will help companies preserve jobs and navigate through the coming months. As we look past the immediate challenge, more will need to be done to rebuild and renew our economy.'

However, Andy Chamberlain, Director of Policy at the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, said: 'The support for the self-employed announced today is woefully inadequate. Although it is right for the Chancellor to extend the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, the support announced today still excludes one in three self-employed people.

'Limited company freelancers and the newly self-employed almost entirely missed out on support in the last lockdown and have faced bleak months of financial devastation. Now they face a dark winter ahead unless the government does more for them.

'Based on the drastic financial hit self-employed people took in the last lockdown, the new 20% cap on support is likely to be nowhere near enough.'

A new emergency jobs scheme will be introduced to protect jobs during the coronavirus (COVID-19) downturn this winter, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced.

The Jobs Support Scheme, which will replace the furlough scheme when it ends on 31 October, will see workers get up to 77% of their normal salaries for six months.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures in its Winter Economy Plan to tackle coronavirus.

The Chancellor said that employees will have to be working for at least a third of their normal hours to qualify for the new scheme, which begins on 1 November.

Between them, the government and the employer will then cover part of their salary for the remaining hours not worked.

The government will cover a third of this sum, capped at £697.92 per month, while firms cover a further third.

The Jobs Support Scheme is designed to sit alongside the Jobs Retention Bonus.

In addition, the Government is extending the Self Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (SEISS). A third grant will cover three months' worth of profits for the period from November to the end of January 2021. This will be worth 20% of average monthly profits, up to a total of £1,875.

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government's coronavirus loan schemes will be given more time to repay the money.

And a VAT cut for hospitality and tourism companies will also be extended until March. The cut from 20% to 5% VAT - which came into force on 15 July - had been due to expire on 12 January next year.

Mr Sunak said: 'The resurgence of the virus, and the measures we need to take in response, pose a threat to our fragile economic recovery. Our approach to the next phase of support must be different to that which came before.

'The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged - to support people's jobs - but the way we achieve that must evolve.'

The UK's recovery from the Covid-19 lockdown was losing momentum even before the announcement of new restrictions to control the spread of the virus, according to the latest data.

The IHS Markit/CIPS flash composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to a three-month low of 55.7 in September after hitting a six-year high of 59.1 in August.

The survey showed strong growth in Britain's services and manufacturing sectors but also reflected a slowdown in new orders and the weakest confidence about future output since May.

Businesses in the survey said they were reducing staff numbers for a seventh consecutive month - the longest such run since 2010.

Commenting on the data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit, said: 'It was not surprising to see that the slowdown was especially acute in services, where the restaurant sector in particular saw demand fall sharply as the eat out to help out scheme was withdrawn.

'Demand for other consumer-facing services also stalled as companies struggled amid new measures introduced to fight rising infection rates and consumers often remained reluctant to spend.'

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's speech in which he outlined new coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions for businesses in England, business groups have called for further government support.

Commenting on the new measures, Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: 'Businesses, their employees and customers need to see a clear road map for the existing restrictions and those that may be introduced in the future. This must include transparent trigger points and clarity about the support available to protect jobs and livelihoods.

'The government should waste no time in setting out a comprehensive support package for firms forced to close or reduce capacity through no fault of their own.'

Mike Cherry, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: 'While it's encouraging to see the government striking a balance between protecting public health and protecting the economy, this fresh round of restrictions will cause significant disruption for thousands of small firms.

'It's important to remember that small firms have already spent thousands on putting safety measures in place but received no funding to support their efforts to do the right thing.'

Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said a national effort to increase testing capability will be vital. Carolyn Fairbairn, Director General of the CBI, said: 'A second national lockdown would be devastating for our economy, so it's right to prioritise bringing infections under control.

'A clear timetable is welcome, but six months will come as a shock to many. Every possible step should now be taken to bring that horizon forward. This requires a turbo-charged testing regime to help control the virus quickly.'

The National Audit Office (NAO) has called on the Treasury to safeguard access to cash after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic accelerated the transition to cashless payments.

The NAO has warned that without co-ordinated effort there is a risk that vulnerable people who rely on cash will be excluded from the economy. A decade ago, cash was used in 60% of transactions, but that number fell to less than 30% by 2019, according to the NAO's data.

The data suggested that the COVID-19 outbreak may have accelerated this trend further, as market demand for notes and coins declined by 71% between early March and mid-April during the lockdown.

According to the NAO, the decline in the use of cash in transactions is putting pressure on the cash system. Commercial operators who distribute cash rely on high demand to maintain the attractiveness of their business models and cover large fixed costs, such as bank branches and ATMs.

In March 2020, the government announced that it would be bringing forward legislation to protect access to cash and address the sustainability of the cash infrastructure.

However, the NAO said it cannot currently see a clear link between the government's aim to safeguard the consumer's ability to use cash, and the responsibilities of the five public bodies in the cash system.

HMRC data has revealed that UK businesses have voluntarily returned more than £215 million in overclaimed Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) payments.

Around 80,433 firms have returned furlough funds they were given to help cover employees' salaries.

Commenting on the issue, HMRC stated: 'HMRC welcomes those employers who have voluntarily returned CJRS grants to HMRC because they no longer need the grant, or have realised they've made errors and followed our guidance on putting things right.'

The government believes as much as £3.5 billion in CJRS funds may have been paid out in error or to fraudsters.

Launched in April, the CJRS was designed to support businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Initially furloughed workers received 80% of their pay from the government, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month. Under the scheme, employers are now having to make contributions to employees' wages.

The CJRS will finish at the end of October, and will be followed by the Job Retention Bonus, which aims to encourage employers to keep employees on the payroll until the end of January 2021.