UK government provided £80bn worth of Covid support

The government has approved more than 1.6 million loans - including Bounce Back Loans (BBL) and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBILS) - between April 2020 and May 2021. Of this, more than 1.5 million of BBL worth £47bn were provided during the pandemic, with £26bn also provided as CBILS, and more than £5bn going through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Businesses will continue to access government-backed loans through the new Recovery Loan Scheme, which opened in April and runs until the end of the year.

A further £1.12bn of funding has been provided to 1,140 high-growth firms through the Future Fund. This scheme was designed to support innovative UK companies that typically rely on equity investment and whose access to investment was affected by Covid-19.

The government has also introduced the Pay as You Grow scheme to support businesses repaying Coronavirus loans. This will allow companies to pause repayments for up to six months and to extend repayment periods from six to 10 years.

UK chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “I am proud of the extraordinary extent of support we’ve offered since March last year - we will continue to back businesses and protect people’s jobs as we recover from coronavirus.”

The Recovery Loan Scheme will run until 31 December 2021 and will ensure lenders continue to have the confidence to provide support, and viable businesses can access government-backed finance throughout 2021 following the disruption of the pandemic. The Recovery Loan Scheme operates UK-wide, providing an 80% guarantee to lenders for term loans, overdrafts, and invoice and asset finance.