UK businesses have taken out 1.6 million government-guaranteed loans worth £75.1billion during the coronavirus crisis through schemes delivered by the British Business Bank.
According to data from British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank, more than a quarter of all small to medium-sized businesses in the UK have now used a pandemic loan from the government.
This includes 1,531,095 Bounce Back Loans worth £46.5billion, 98,344 loans worth £23.3billion through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and 716 loans worth £5.3billion through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
New figures for Bounce Back Loan Scheme Top-Ups reveal 101,666 loans have been approved valued at £0.9billion.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme all come to an end on 31 March 2021. Meanwhile, the new Recovery Loan Scheme will open for applications on 6 April 2021.
A further £1.2billion of convertible loans were made under the Future Fund Scheme, which opened for applications on 20 May 2020 to support lossmaking fast-growth companies that had been unable to access the other schemes. This sum has been matched by at least the same amount from third-party investors.
The applications figure includes approved applications, those applications that are still to be processed, applications that have been declined and those applications that may turn out not to be eligible or cases where customers will decide not to proceed.
For CBILS, this number will also include a number of applications that have subsequently been converted to applications for the BBLS scheme. For Future Fund, the number of applications includes only those where both a company and their lead investor have submitted information.
Claire Woffenden
Claire works across print and online as Editor for The Fintech Times.
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