Only two per cent of businesses have successfully managed to access the government\u2019s coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), according to a survey published today.<\/p>\n
Nine per cent of respondents to the survey by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said they were unsuccessful with slow or no response from lenders the main reason cited.<\/p>\n
Read more: <\/strong>RBS pays out 70 per cent of government coronavirus loans<\/a><\/p>\n The BCC said: \u201cThis suggests firms could still be having difficulty accessing the support through banks, despite the announcements on 2 April designed to simplify and speed up the CBILS process.\u201d<\/p>\n A survey the week previously by the BCC found only one per cent of businesses had successfully accessed the scheme.<\/p>\n Under the programme, businesses with revenue up to \u00a345m can apply to a group of more than 40 accredited lenders for a government-backed loan.<\/p>\n The government promises to pay the lenders 80 per cent of the loan if the borrower does not pay it back.<\/p>\n Critics of the scheme have compared it unfavourably to Switzerland which has channeled billions of Swiss Francs to small businesses through a 100 per cent government underwritten scheme.<\/p>\n Yesterday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak defended the performance of CBILs, saying: \u201cThere has been enormous improvement from where we were\u2026the changes that we made are making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n The scheme was tweaked at the start of April to widen eligibility and prevent banks asking for personal guarantees from directors on loans under \u00a3250,000.<\/p>\n Read more: <\/strong>Former business secretary Greg Clark leads calls for overhaul of coronavirus loan scheme<\/a><\/p>\n Sunak said he expected to see an acceleration in the number of loans granted in the coming days after bank staff worked over Easter weekend to clear the backlog.<\/p>\n On Sunday, business secretary Alok Sharma said around 4,200 businesses had received loans under the scheme and just over \u00a3800m had been paid out.<\/p>\n The survey also found two-thirds of businesses have furloughed staff under the government\u2019s coronavirus job retention scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thirty one per cent of those to use the scheme have furloughed between 75 and 100 per cent of their workers, the survey said.<\/p>\n Under the job retention programme, workers are temporarily laid off by the government and paid 80 per cent of their salary by the government up to a maximum of \u00a32,500 a month.<\/p>\n
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