We use cookies to improve your experience on this site. By viewing our pages, you give us consent to use cookies. Find out more.

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. NextFin promotes high - risk investments and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.
Take 2 minutes to learn more.

Less than half of CBILS applications have been approved

Posted 4 years ago

Less than half of CBILS applications have been approved
Share this article:

Author: Sacha Bright & Oliver Murphy

Less than half of loan applications under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme (CBILS) have been approved so far, according to figures.

Data from UK Finance shows that more than 36,000 completed applications have been received, of which only 16,624 have been approved between the launch of the scheme at the start of the month up to April 21 which equates to just 46.1% of loans getting to small businesses.

More than £2.8bn has been lent to small- and medium-sized enterprises through the scheme so far. This marks a doubling of the total amount, and a big jump in the number of processed loans compared with last Tuesday. However, it is not fast enough. 

The news comes as it was revealed a similar Swiss government support scheme distributed 28 times more cash in its first week than the UK has achieved in three weeks. Switzerland has made 10bn francs (£8.6bn) available to small businesses covering 10 percent of turnover up to a ceiling of 500,000 francs (£400,000), repayable as an interest-free loan over five years.

In a statement, Chief Executive of UK Finance, Stephen Jones said: “the banking and finance sector understands the critical role we have in helping businesses through these tough times.”

Chief Economist from the Confederation of British Industry, Rain Newton-Smith said: “These figures show that much-needed finance is reaching more and more businesses, particularly larger firms.”

“But while the pace is picking up, many firms are still missing out. More loans must get out of the door faster for the businesses facing distress, especially smaller businesses.” 

British Chambers of Commerce’s head of economics Suren Thiru said: “The increase in companies accessing CBILS is encouraging progress. However, the number of applications processed and approved will need to be increased significantly in what is a crunch week for firms urgently trying to access financial support."

Labour shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said: "Today's figures show that the CBIL scheme is in no way equal to the scale of economic distress facing our firms."

"Providing 16,000 loans in four weeks in a country of nearly six million SMEs is not good enough. In an average week last year, there was more than £1 billion of new SME lending. The fact that CBILS are now only at that level at a time of the worst economic emergency in our lifetimes is a clear sign that they are inadequate."

"The Government must recognise the scheme is not working adequately and change it urgently. The future of many of our small firms depends on its decisions."



Disclaimer

To the best of our knowledge, the information we have provided is correct at the time of publishing. Sacha Bright is not a solicitor or accountant and we recommend that you seek professional advice on any topic discussed.

Tagged: News Covid-19 CBILS



Be a contributor to our blog click here to contact us
Click here to sign up to our newsletter

0 comments

Log in to comment

We reserve the right to remove comments which are inappropriate and/or offensive.
Comments are not the opinion of Nextfin.uk. Please read the comment guidelines
  • Internet Business Awards Category Award Winner 2015
  • Hertfordshire Business Awards Finalist 2014

As seen in:

  • The Guardian
  • Financial Times
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • The Times
  • The Daily Telegraph