Government loan schemes deliver over £75bn to businesses
The government’s emergency loan schemes and future fund have delivered £76.3bn to more than a million businesses during the coronavirus crisis.
Data from the British Business Bank has shown that businesses across the UK have to date benefitted from 1,630,155 government-guaranteed loans worth £75.1bn to support their cashflow during the crisis.
This includes 1,531,095 bounce back loans worth £46.5bn, 98,344 loans worth £23.3bn through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme and 716 loans worth £5.3bn through the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme.
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These schemes all close on 31 March and will be replaced by the new recovery loan scheme which will open for applications on 6 April.
There were also 101,666 approved top-up loans under the bounce back loan scheme valued at £900m.
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Furthermore, there has been £1.2bn worth of convertible loans approved for 1,236 companies, out of 1,846 applications, under the future fund since the scheme opened for applications on 20 May.
This sum has been matched by at least the same amount from third-party investors. The future fund closed for applications on 31 January 2021.
“The banking and finance industry has provided an unprecedented level of support to UK businesses throughout the pandemic, in close collaboration with the government and the British Business Bank, and will continue to do so through new measures such as the government-backed recovery loan scheme,” said Stephen Pegge, managing director of commercial finance at UK Finance.
“Many businesses, and some specific sectors, may face extended disruption and financial difficulty in 2021.
“With widespread restructuring and recovery situations expected, the banking and finance sector is focused on supporting the turnaround of companies where possible, while ensuring that businesses which are no longer viable are treated fairly.”
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Self-reported data from the businesses taking part in the scheme have shown diversity in applicants in terms of location, gender and ethnicity.
40 per cent of the funding (£483.6m) was approved to companies with their headquarters located outside of London.
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Of the total amount of £1.2bn, 15 per cent was to companies headquartered in the South East and South West, 11 per cent in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber, eight per cent in the East of England, four per cent in the Midlands and three per cent in the devolved nations.
Of the 1,236 companies that have been approved and received their convertible loan agreements for signature, 77 per cent of funding was to companies with mixed gender senior management teams.
Senior management teams consisting solely of ethnic minority team members and those with both ethnic minority and white team members accounted for 61.6 per cent of funding to companies that have been approved for convertible loan agreements so far, worth £683.5m.
