Over the past few weeks I have been emailed by small businesses who are having problems with the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) not operating as was expected.
I have been raising these individual issues with the Treasury, the banks in question, and UK Finance.
I am pleased that the Treasury has announced some changes to the scheme which should hopefully address most of the issues small business have faced:
- all viable small businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 can now benefit (rather than just those that couldn’t access commercial finance)
- no personal guarantees for loans below £250,000
- personal guarantees for loans above £250,000 limited to the 20% of the loan which isn’t guaranteed by Govt
- operational changes to speed up the processing of applications, particularly those for smaller loans
You can find more information here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-strengthens-support-on-offer-for-business-as-first-government-backed-loans-reach-firms-in-need and here: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/ourpartners/coronavirus-business-interruption-loan-scheme-cbils-2/for-businesses-and-advisors/
I continue to press the Treasury on expanding the business rate exemption and grant, providing further guidance on the job retention scheme, and the outstanding issues with the self-employment income scheme.
As ever, I am happy to assist if anyone still faces any issues, and can be contacted on [email protected]