Covid-19: Cost of UK’s pandemic response climbs to £372bn May 17, 2021 The UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has now racked up costs of £372bn, according to the latest official estimates. In a new update to its Covid-19 cost tracker, the National Audit Office (NAO) said £372bn was the estimated total cost of emergency financial support as of May 2021. This marks an increase of over [...]
MPs slam government’s ‘woeful’ handling of bounce back loans December 16, 2020 After months of chaos MPs have today published a report into the government’s failings to support small businesses with the bounce back loan scheme. The Public Accounts Committee has published a devastating report into the government’s handling of the bounce back loan scheme, which has received criticism since its inception. The BBLS was introduced in [...]
Lloyds delivers over £1bn in ‘bounce back loans’ on first day of scheme May 5, 2020 Lloyds Bank has delivered over £1bn in “bounce back loans” to 32,000 small businesses on the first day of the scheme. The bounce back loan scheme is the newest government support package for UK firms hit by the financial impact of the coronavirus. Banks have reported a huge demand for the loans, and since its [...]
UK rips up state guarantees on nearly £1bn of Covid loans November 1, 2023 The UK government has scrapped guarantees on nearly £1bn of bank loans handed out to ailing businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving lenders on the hook for some of the borrowings that will not be repaid.
Covid cash lost to fraud down by third because we’re ‘going after everybody’, Sunak claims May 3, 2023 Government cash lost to fraud and error via Covid-19 business and jobs support schemes has been reduced by a third thanks to “hundreds of criminal investigations”, Rishi Sunak has claimed. The prime minister defended the pandemic business loans and job support and vowed his government was “going after everybody” in a bid to reclaim the [...]
Exclusive: ‘Normal’ bank lending to SMEs down 10 per cent in 2020 as emergency loan use explodes February 10, 2021 Non-emergency lending by banks to SMEs dropped 10 per cent in 2020, while emergency coronavirus funding ballooned. ‘Normal’ lending to SMEs fell from £168bn in December 2019 to £152bn a year later, research by debt specialist ACP Altenburg Advisory found. At the same time, emergency coronavirus funding via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBLIS) [...]
Covid support scheme lands Funding Circle record loans under management March 25, 2021 The number of loans under management at lending platform Funding Circle hit a record in 2020, with the firm’s involvement in the Covid support scheme giving a boost to the business. In 2020 Funding Circle achieved record loans under management of £4.21bn, up from £3.73bn in 2019 – a 13 per cent increase. The lender [...]
Funding Circle slides to loss as weak economy and end of Covid loans hit lending September 7, 2023 Funding Circle swung to a loss in the first half of the year as a sluggish UK economy and the winding down of government-backed Covid loans continued to drag on the small business lender’s bottom line. The London-listed fintech posted a pre-tax loss of £16.6m in the six months to June, against a profit of [...]
Taxpayers could lose billions through pandemic support schemes June 30, 2021 Taxpayers could lose tens of billions of pounds through support schemes set up to limit the impact of Covid-19, the committee that is responsible for overseeing government expenditure has warned in a report published today. A lack of scrutiny within Covid-19 loan schemes has “significantly increased” taxpayer exposure to fraud and error, the Public Accounts [...]
Covid: UK bank lending surged £29.3bn since March, surpassing EU March 29, 2021 UK bank lending has surged by eight per cent to keep businesses afloat since the pandemic began, surpassing EU lending, according to a new study by UHY released this morning. Banks have offered around £29.3bn in businesses loans over the past year, as lending in the EU increased by an average of 5.3 per cent. [...]