Tom and Giovanna Fletcher admit furloughing staff member was ‘huge error of judgement’ in joint statement

Tom Fletcher and wife Giovanna have issued a joint statement over reports they ‘claimed £30,000 from the Government’s furlough scheme’.

It was claimed the I’m A Celebrity winner and the McFly star – who has an estimated worth of £8million – received up to £30,000 from the state during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Sun, an HMRC register of claims shows they were given support shortly after the author was named queen of the castle on the ITV series, at the end of last year.

Addressing the claims on Instagram, they offered a joint statement, with the caption: ‘Hi all, Giovanna and I wanted to share this with you. X.’

‘Hi everyone, we’ve always had a very honest and open relationship with you all on here so we thought it was important to address questions that some of you have rightly asked us in the last 24 hours,’ they began.

‘This weekend there was an article in one of the Sunday papers about us using the government furlough scheme.

‘While parts of the article were inaccurate (including all of the figures mentioned), it is true that we did follow financial advice to furlough someone we employ.

‘This was for a member of our team who couldn’t carry out their role due to the pandemic, and the scheme was suggested to us as the most effective way to give them job stability and security.

‘Although it was a time of great uncertainty, we clearly should have thought more about the situation and funded it ourselves.’

They concluded the post: ‘It was a huge error of judgement and a mistake we wholeheartedly take responsibility for and we have paid the full amount back. Gi and Tom x.’

The same statement appears on Giovanna’s Instagram profile, with comments taken down from the both, preventing followers from responding.

Files released by HMRC last week listed more than 600,000 companies and individuals who received taxpayers’ support between January and March 2021.

Companies House records state Giovanna Fletcher Ltd had one employee and over £300k in the bank as of April 2020.

The star was crowned winner of I’m A Celebrity last year, starring alongside Jordan North and Vernon Kay, and was thought to be ‘inundated’ with offers following her return home.

She was so popular in the ‘castle’ that insiders predicted she could earn up to £4million for the stint.

‘Giovanna’s popularity went through the roof on Celebrity and after being crowned the winner ITV hope to champion her,’ an inside source began.

‘Bosses had a meeting where ten jobs were mooted, all of which would be perfect for her.’

‘They see Giovanna as the next Davina McCall — she’s a great all-rounder and could work on anything from panel shows to kids’ TV,’ they told the Sun, adding that she didn’t want to ‘rush into anything’.

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