Businesses helped by loans

Businesses across South Lanarkshire have been loaned more than £ 140 million from UK government-backed schemes.

Figures published by the British Business Bank revealed that more than 4000 businesses had taken advantage of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS).

The CBILS is open to small businesses with a turnover of up to £45 million. Companies can borrow up to £5 million and the government will cover interest and lender-levied fees for the first 12 months.

BBLS is a government- backed scheme with a 100 per cent guarantee offering small and micro businesses loans of up to 25 per cent of their turnover between £2000 and £50,000.

The British Business Bank provided figures for each UK parliament constituency.

In Rutherglen and Hamilton West, 1181 BBLS loans worth £32.49m and 32 CBILS loans worth £6.78m have been taken out.

MP Margaret Ferrier said: “There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has hit businesses hard and the loan facilities offered by the UK Government haven’t quite lived up to their promise to support these businesses in their hour of need.

“For Bounce Back Loans in particular, because the funding isn’t directly provided by government, there is a huge reliance on lenders being able to source their own funding for the scheme. Many fintech companies and challenger banks, like Tide, have decided to stop providing Bounce Back loans for this reason, which risks more businesses going under.

“Converting these loans to grants would give more businesses the best possible chance of weathering the economic storm caused by coronavirus. The Treasury must take these steps immediately.”