Billions approved in Covid-19 government loans

More than one million bounce back loans worth £30.93bn have been approved for small firms to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic.

HMRC statistics also reveal that 53 536 loans worth £11.49bn have been made through the coronavirus business interruption loans scheme; 394 large businesses have received £2.58bn from the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme; and some £379m has been invested in 376 companies through the future fund.

According to RSM UK banks are gearing up to 40% – about £11bn – of loans from the bounce back scheme to be written off as irrecoverable.

The firm has voiced concern over what it calls a ‘ticking time-bomb’ of bounce back debt waiting to go bad from the second quarter of 2021. The incurred debt will turn out to be unaffordable for swaths of businesses who turned to the loan but only as a means of prolonging the inevitable.

Gareth...