The Treasury reveals business loan scheme statistics
03 June 2020
While much focus has been placed on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), it is important to remember that a range of other measures have been implemented by the government intended to support businesses through the outbreak of coronavirus.
HM Treasury, on 2 June 2020, updated a set of statistics relating to several business loan schemes that have been implemented to highlight how much support has been provided, and to how many applicants. The figures provided were accurate as of 31 May 2020.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
The CBILS was launched to support small and medium-sized businesses, by allowing them to access loans and other forms of finance up to a cap of £5 million. The government guarantees 80% of the finance to the lender and will pay interest and any fees for the first 12 months.
Businesses must be based in the UK, and have an annual turnover of no more than £45 million in order to qualify. Applicants will need to be able to demonstrate that their business would be viable if it weren’t for the coronavirus crisis, and show that it has been negatively impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19.
Further information on the scheme can be located here.
As of 31 May 2020, the CBILS had paid out £8.92 billion across 45,843 claims. The total number of claims made, including those rejected, was 89.724.
The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)
The CLBILS was established with the aim of helping medium and large-sized businesses to access loans and other forms of finance up to a maximum of £200 million. The government guarantees 80% of finance to the lender.
Businesses must be based in the UK, have an annual turnover exceeding £45 million and not have received support under the Bank of England’s COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility Applicants will need to be able to prove that their business would be viable if it weren’t for the coronavirus crisis, and also be able to show how their business has been adversely affected by COVID-19. They must also be able to show how the loan would enable them to trade out of any short to medium-term difficulty resulting from coronavirus.
Businesses borrowing more than £50 million must agree to certain restrictions on dividend payments, senior pay and share buy-backs for the duration of the loan.
More information on the CLBILS can be found here.
As of 31 May 2020, the CLBILS had paid out £1.1 billion across 191 claims. The total number of claims made as of that date was 579.
Bounce Back Loan Schemes (BBLS)
BBLS were introduced to help small and medium-sized businesses borrow between £2,000 and 25% of their turnover. The maximum available under these schemes is £50,000. The government guarantees 100% of the loan and there are no associated fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. After this period, the interest rate will be 2.5% a year.
In order to qualify, businesses must be based in the UK, have been established prior to 1 March 2020 and have been adversely impacted by coronavirus.
More information on BBLS is available here.
As of 31 May 2020, BBLS had paid out £21.29 billion, across 699.354 claims. As of 31 May 2020, 873,192 claims had been made.
Coronavirus Future Fund
The Future Fund is providing government loans ranging from between £125,00 to £5 million to UK-based companies, where there is at least equal match funding from private investors.
These convertible loans may be suitable for businesses that are dependent on equity investment, and are unable to access other government business support programmes because they are pre-revenue or pre-profit. The scheme will be open until the end of September 2020.
There is stringent eligibility criteria, and more information about the Coronavirus Future Fund can be accessed here.
The only information provided by the Treasury at this point is that, as of 31 May 2020, the total number of applications stood at 464.
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.