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New Bounce Back Loan Scheme opens for smallest UK Businesses

Press release 04 May 2020

  • Lenders under scheme can provide loans of up to £50k over six years
  • First 12 months of interest paid by government, then 2.5% pa interest
  • Repayments deferred for 12 months
  • Simple, standardised application form to speed up process

Following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement on 27 April, the Bounce Back Loan Scheme opens for applications from today.

Delivered by lenders accredited by the British Business Bank for this scheme, Bounce Back Loans target small and micro businesses in all sectors 1 , providing loans from £2k up to 25% of the business’ turnover with a maximum loan of £50k.

Providing lenders with a 100% government-backed guarantee and standardising the application form is expected to lead to a faster process with many loans becoming available within days.

Scheme features

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme enables businesses to obtain a six-year term loan at a government set interest rate of 2.5% a year. The government will cover interest payable in the first year.

  • Up to £50,000 loan: Loans will be from £2,000 up to 25% of a business’ turnover or £50,000, whichever is lower.
  • 100% guarantee: The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed, full guarantee (100%) against the outstanding facility balance, both capital and interest. The borrower always remains 100% liable for the debt
  • Interest rate: The government has set the interest rate for this facility at 2.5% per annum, meaning businesses will all benefit from the same, low rate of interest.
  • Interest paid by government for 12 months: The government will make a Business Interruption Payment to the lenders to cover the first 12 months of interest payable, so businesses will benefit from no upfront costs.
  • No principal repayments for first 12 months: Borrowers will not have to begin principal repayments for the first 12 months, thereafter capital will be repaid on a straight line basis.
  • No guarantee fee for businesses or lenders to access the scheme
  • Finance terms: The length of the loan is for six years but early repayment is allowed, without early repayment fees.
  • No personal guarantees: No personal guarantees are allowed, and no recovery action can be taken over a principal private residence or principal private vehicle.

Eligibility criteria

Businesses from all sectors  2 can apply for a facility. The business must self-certify to its lender the following:

  • Confirm it is UK-based in its business activity, and established by 1 March 2020
  • Confirm it has been adversely impacted by the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
  • Confirm it is not currently using a government-backed Coronavirus loan scheme (unless using BBLS to refinance a whole facility)
  • Confirm it is not in bankruptcy, liquidation or undergoing debt restructuring

How to apply

Businesses should check the scheme page on the British Business Bank website to find out which lenders provide Bounce Back Loans.

Businesses will be required to fill in a short online application form on their lender’s website, which self-certifies whether they are eligible for a Bounce Back Loan facility. Eligible companies will be subject to standard customer fraud, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks. Some State aid restrictions may apply to applications.

  • 1

    Credit institutions (falling within the remit of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive), public sector bodies, a state -funded primary or secondary schools and insurance companies are not eligible to apply and subject to State-Aid restrictions.

  • 2

    Credit institutions (falling within the remit of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive), public sector bodies, a state -funded primary or secondary schools and insurance companies are not eligible to apply and subject to State-Aid restrictions.

Notes to editors

Covid-19 loan schemes

The new Bounce Back Loan Scheme complements other loan schemes provided by the government to assist businesses during the coronavirus epidemic:

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme (CBILS)

CBILS is a demand-led scheme offering lending to smaller businesses with turnover of up to £45m. Invoice finance and asset finance facilities are available from £1k to £5m, while term loans and revolving credit facilities are available from £50k to £5m (the lower limit for these has increased from £1k following the introduction of BBLS). The government makes a payment to cover interest and lender-levied fees under CBILS for the first 12 months. Following the launch of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, CBILS will no longer be available for new loans and revolving credit facilities (overdrafts) of £50,001 or less, but remains available for Asset and Invoice Finance facilities below £50,001.

Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loans Scheme (CLBILS)

CLBILS is a demand led scheme targeted at larger businesses with a turnover of more than £45m. It offers term loans, revolving credit facilities, invoice finance and asset finance. Businesses with turnover between £45m and £250m can apply for facilities of up to £25m, while businesses with turnover of over £250m can apply for facilities of up to £50m.

Future Fund

The Future Fund will support the UK’s innovative businesses currently affected by Covid-19. These businesses have been unable to access other government business support programmes, such as CBILS, because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit and typically rely on equity investment. The scheme will deliver an initial commitment of £250m of new government funding through convertible loan notes which will be unlocked by private investment on a match funded basis. The government scheme, which will be developed in partnership with the British Business Bank with the intention of launching for applications in May, will initially be open until the end of September.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £7.2bn of finance to over 93,000 smaller businesses (as at end of September 2019).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, none of which are authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

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