"We clearly should have thought more about the situation and funded it ourselves."
McFly singer Tom Fletcher and his wife Giovanna have
apologised for using the UK's Government furlough scheme throughout the pandemic, and said it was a "huge error of judgment".
Their apology comes after
The Sun reported that the couple used the government scheme to furlough an employee.
The Fletchers addressed the issue in a statement on Instagram, though they claimed that all the figures mentioned in the report were inaccurate.
The statement read: "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.
"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."
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJtuLyhTvm/
It continued: "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."
The statement added that the couple "wholeheartedly take responsibility" for this "error of judgment". They added that they paid the amount back in fall.
Tom, who enjoyed a career with McFly and McBusted, married CBeebies presenter Giovanna in 2012. Last year, Giovanna won the 20th season of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! As well as hosting her parenting podcast, Happy Mum, Happy Baby, Fletcher has written numerous books for children.
