SMEs still struggling with government covid funding

20 May 2020

During the Coronavirus pandemic, the British Government has provided various methods of helping SME businesses, including time to pay for various taxes, business rates relief, some modest grants for small businesses, a support scheme for furloughed workers, and a variety of loan schemes.

For many businesses this will have been enough to enable them to survive the crisis and protect jobs or cessation of business altogether. However, latest Government figures, showing the approval rate of both CBILS and BBL’s, make for very interesting reading.

The stats show that many businesses haven’t been so fortunate or successful in gaining extra funding. There have been challenges with the banks for CBILS loans around ‘eligibility’ and ‘serviceability’. Add that to the issues of backlogs and delays caused by the volume of applications, and the complexities of the various schemes. what this means is that gaining access to these schemes has not been easy for all.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)
Data up to close of business Value of Facilities Approved Number of Facilities Approved Total Number of Applications
10/05/2020 £8.38bn 268,173 363,646
17/05/2020 £14.18bn 464,393 581,516

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
Data up to close of business Value of Facilities Approved Number of Facilities Approved Total Number of Applications
10/05/2020 £6.09bn 35,919 64,531
17/05/2020 £7.25bn 40,564 81,124

 

So what does this mean ?

Looking at the stats above, you’ll notice that only around 50% of the CBILS applications are being approved, compared to around 77% of Bounce Back loans. This is due to the additional credit scrutiny on CBILS, compared to the self-certified BBL’s.

These CBILS statistics also include loan applications where the bank has approved less than the customer applied for, of which we have seen several instances. Our Corporate Finance team can help you to review your options, and see if alternative funding may be available.

So, if you need funding still for you business, don’t give up hope – help could still be available.

For more information on funding for your business contact Mark Standish today or call him on 01604 273782.

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