MORE than one million businesses have applied for a Government-backed loan to help them get through the economic destruction caused by the pandemic. Meanwhile, British firms have furloughed nearly nine million jobs.
Three Government-backed loan schemes, which are administered by high-street lenders, have paid out
£34.9 billion to around 830,000 businesses. By Sunday night almost 1.06 million businesses had applied to one of the three schemes.
By far the most popular was the bounce-back loans, designed to quickly funnel up to £50,000 to small firms. Nearly £24bn bounce-back loans have been paid to more than 782,000 companies.
The figures come as applications are set to close for the furlough scheme. In total, 8.9 million jobs have been furloughed since the scheme launched. It has cost the Government £19.6bn to date.
UK Finance, the trade body representing the banks, said its members have lent another £3.6bn to 85,000 businesses in the past week.
Mike Conroy (pictured), director of commercial finance at UK Finance, said: “The banking and finance sector has a clear plan to help businesses of all sizes get through these challenging times. The industry acknowledges the role it must play and is providing an unprecedented level of support, with £35bn approved to 830,000 businesses through Government-backed lending schemes in less than three months.
“This sits alongside the broad package of measures the industry has introduced to help businesses access the support they need, including overdraft extensions and capital repayment holidays.
“It’s important to remember that any lending provided under Government-backed schemes is a debt not a grant, and so firms should carefully consider their ability to repay before applying.”
The Bank of England has also set up a separate loan system to help larger firms.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here