Transparency data

COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes repayment data as at 31 March 2022

Updated 28 November 2023

This publication provides an update on the performance of the Government’s COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes, taken from data as at 31 March 2022. The data relies on information submitted to the British Business Bank’s lender portal by accredited lenders.

The data show businesses continue to make a positive start to repayments, with the majority of businesses meeting monthly repayments. A proportion of businesses have chosen to repay their loan in full already.

As of 31 March 2022, businesses have drawn 1,636,642 facilities, totalling £77.1 billion, through the:

• Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
• Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)
• Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)

The 3 schemes were established by the government in the first half of 2020 to support UK businesses impacted as a result of the pandemic.

• Over 85% of facilities have either fully repaid or are meeting monthly repayments as scheduled
• 7% of all facilities have already been paid back in full worth £9 billion
• 8% of all facilities have been subject to a default ^{[footnote 1]}
• 28% of facilities which had a Bounce Back Loan facility have accessed one or more Pay As You Grow option

All businesses remain responsible for repaying facilities under CBILS, CLBILS and BBLS, and are fully liable for the debt.

We intend to publish scheme performance data half-yearly, based on end of March and end of September data.

It is important to recognise that it is still very early in the life of the COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes. Data being collected from scheme lenders is subject to refinement, addition, and correction over time, and should not be regarded as definitive nor conclusive as to the performance of the schemes. Please see Limitations and further considerations for further background.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

More than 78% of CBILS facilities are on schedule, and more than 18% of scheme facilities are fully paid back. Just over 1% are currently in arrears (but not yet progressed to default), and fewer than 1% are currently in default (but have not yet progressed to a claim by lenders). The government guarantee has so far been settled (that is, claimed by lenders and paid out by the British Business Bank) on fewer than 1% of the total loans.

Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS)

More than 73% of CLBILS facilities are on schedule, and 26% of scheme facilities are fully paid back. Fewer than 1% are currently in arrears (but not yet progressed to default), and none are currently in default. The government guarantee has so far been settled (that is, claimed by lenders and paid out by the British Business Bank) on fewer than 1% of the total loans.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)

More than 78% of BBLS facilities are on schedule and almost 7% of all scheme facilities are fully paid back. Around 7% of all scheme facilities are currently in arrears (but not yet progressed to default), and 4% are currently in default (but have not yet progressed to a claim by lenders). The government guarantee has so far been settled (that is, claimed by lenders and paid out by the British Business Bank) on fewer than 1% of the total loans.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme – Pay As You Grow uptake

More than a quarter (28%) of BBLS facilities have used one or more of the Pay As You Grow options announced in September 2020. These options give greater flexibility to businesses who wish to manage their loan repayments more effectively by offering a variety of options to structure their repayments.

Prevented and suspected fraud

Lenders reported that the fraud checks they undertook as part of the BBLS application process prevented 62,380 loans with a value of £2.2 billion from being loaned to potentially fraudulent businesses or individuals. No further updates are expected now that the scheme has closed.

Lenders have identified c.18,000 BBLS loans and c.100 CBILS loans as ‘suspected fraud’. Lenders continue to review cases so this figure is subject to change. This relies on lenders’ business as usual threshold for fraud reporting, that is the lender has derived sufficient grounds to suspect fraud, which is then reported via the British Business Bank portal.

Lenders are not law enforcement agencies or investigatory organisations. Where they have a suspicion that fraud has been committed by a borrower, they will indicate so in the information which they provide to the British Business Bank. Ultimately it is the courts which determine whether or not a fraud has been committed, and so the statistics presented are only an indicator of the levels of suspected fraud which has been identified within the scheme at a given point in time.

Detailed facility status

All COVID-19 loan schemes

These tables show current figures rather than original drawn loan figures. See Definitions below when interpreting these tables.

Latest facility lifecycle stage reached	Number of facilities	% Number of facilities	Outstanding balance (£bn)	Final amounts (£bn)
On schedule	1,278,570	78.1%	52.81
Arrears	114,750	7.0%	3.45
Defaulted	62,397	3.8%	2.09
Claimed	49,811	3.0%	1.67
Settled	10,570	0.6%		0.42
Fully repaid	120,544	7.4%		8.98

BBLS

Latest facility lifecycle stage reached	Number of facilities	% Number of facilities	Outstanding balance (£bn)	Final amounts (£bn)
On schedule	1,201,081	78.1%	32.23
Arrears	113,488	7.4%	3.22
Defaulted	61,475	4.0%	1.89
Claimed	49,325	3.2%	1.60
Settled	10,116	0.7%		0.35
Fully repaid	102,589	6.7%		3.28

BBLS Pay As You Grow (PAYG) Usage

	Number of facilities	% of BBLS facilities	Value (£M)
Facilities using PAYG loan extension to 10 years	151,581	9.9%	5,271
Facilities using PAYG loan extension to 10 years plus 6-month repayment holiday	88,686	5.8%	3,190
Facilities using PAYG 6-month repayment holiday	78,577	5.1%	2,497
Facilities using PAYG 6-month interest only repayments	31,799	2.1%	944
Facilities using all 3 PAYG mechanisms (loan extension / 6-month repayment holiday / 6-month interest only repayment)	28,716	1.9%	1,053
Facilities using PAYG loan extension to 10 years plus 6-month interest only repayments	28,093	1.8%	976
Facilities using PAYG 6-month repayment holiday + 6-month interest only Repayment	20,739	1.3%	680
Total	428,191	27.8%	14,610

BBLS: Lender breakdown of facilities drawn and settled

Lender name	Original facility amount (£)	Volume	Settled (£)*	Settled Volume
Barclays	10,786,518,165	344,091	87,966,990	2,694
NatWest	8,924,313,437	292,061	-	-
Lloyds Bank	8,540,712,481	282,554	-	-
HSBC UK	7,252,789,250	236,616	-	-
Santander UK	4,291,110,000	159,046	627,192	14
Starling Bank	1,605,680,051	53,895	61,392,136	1,693
Metro Bank	1,438,316,479	38,502	122,090,983	3,015
Bank of Scotland	1,046,601,691	34,790	-	-
Clydesdale Bank	1,009,334,000	34,712	44,035,911	1,553
TSB	625,943,837	24,722	10,068,300	333
The Co-operative Bank	285,532,598	11,018	1,469,301	48
Danske Bank (UK)	279,180,963	8,581	1,431,473	50
Bank of Ireland	247,520,921	7,356	880,460	24
AIB	172,821,478	5,337	402,804	12
Tide	59,972,500	1,826	14,960,183	473
Funding Circle	35,410,025	1,078	1,213,639	33
Capital on Tap	19,200,378	661	4,700,235	154
Arbuthnot Latham	13,725,162	308	50,000	1
Conister	10,418,281	275	-	-
Paragon Bank	5,982,553	139	150,397	4
GC Business Finance	5,812,831	245	149,199	4
Skipton Business Finance	3,640,750	82	140,293	4
Investec	3,295,938	77	-	-
Close Brothers	2,261,011	102	137,283	7
Total	46,666,094,779	1,538,074	351,866,778	10,116

*Settled - once the guarantee claim is processed and payment is released, the facility is marked as settled on the British Business Bank portal. Some lenders may be more advanced than others in their Claims and Recoveries processes which could lead to figures being distorted. Lenders may submit guarantee claims quarterly in line with the terms of the guarantee.

CBILS Summary Facility Status

Latest facility lifecycle stage reached	Number of facilities	% Number of facilities	Outstanding balance (£bn)	Final amounts (£bn)
On schedule	76,961	78.7%	18.04
Arrears	1,260	1.3%	0.22
Defaulted	922	0.9%	0.20
Claimed	486	0.5%	0.06
Settled	450	0.5%		0.06
Fully repaid	17,767	18.1%		4.32

Top 25 CBILS: Lender breakdown of facilities drawn and settled

Lender name	Original facility amount (£)	Volume	Settled (£)*	Settled Volume
NatWest	4,511,159,209	16,601	-	-
HSBC UK	3,253,082,187	11,580	-	-
Funding Circle	2,991,402,327	17,255	28,579,009	221
Barclays	2,452,276,946	9,201	-	-
Lloyds Bank	2,331,148,997	9,405	214,775	2
Close Brothers	1,169,373,220	6,042	2,205,536	14
Santander UK	979,544,822	4,036	-	-
OakNorth Bank	569,720,587	256	-	-
Clydesdale Bank	501,291,530	1,315	1,565,677	8
Bank of Scotland	382,466,574	1,305	-	-
iwoca	356,226,004	1,264	2,262,718	13
Assetz Capital	333,326,206	187	-	-
ESF Capital Ltd T/A Thincats	332,692,000	273	3,120,000	4
Cynergy Bank	310,202,331	152	-	-
Market Finance	268,914,022	1,247	-	-
United Trust Bank	247,012,566	197	-	-
Atom bank	236,986,418	347	-	-
Haydock Finance	234,617,148	1,233	316,961	5
Danske Bank	233,885,961	608	120,000	1
Mitsubishi HC Capital	218,753,990	1,351	360,976	4
LDF Finance No 3 Limited	215,660,459	1,251	1,418,394	10
Nucleus Commercial Finance	197,702,031	1,093	7,901,931	51
Growth Lending	194,690,490	66	-	-
Metro Bank	193,556,010	384	372,190	3
AIB	193,266,335	309	-	-
Other	2,951,426,127	10,888	13,846,039	114
Total	25,860,384,497	97,846	62,284,205	450

*Settled - once the guarantee claim is processed and payment is released, the facility is marked as settled on the British Business Bank portal. Some lenders may be more advanced than others in their Claims and Recoveries processes which could lead to figures being distorted. Lenders may submit guarantee claims quarterly in line with the terms of the guarantee.

CLBILS Summary Facility Status

Latest facility lifecycle stage reached	Number of facilities	% Number of facilities	Outstanding balance (£bn)	Final amounts (£bn)
On schedule	528	73.1%	2.55
Arrears	2	0.3%	0.01
Defaulted	-	0.0%	-
Claimed	-	0.0%	-
Settled	4	0.6%		0.01
Fully repaid	188	26.0%		1.38

Top 5 CLBILS: Lender breakdown of facilities drawn and settled

Lender name	Original facility amount (£)	Volume	Settled (£)*	Settled Volume
NatWest	1,441,178,436	244	-	-
HSBC UK	1,064,214,000	180	-	-
Barclays	625,709,999	111	-	-
Lloyds Bank	595,629,999	51	-	-
Santander UK	375,512,804	59	-	-
Other	472,587,204	77	6,915,780	4
Total	4,574,832,442	722	6,915,780	4

*Settled - once the guarantee claim is processed and payment is released, the facility is marked as settled on the British Business Bank portal. Some lenders may be more advanced than others in their Claims and Recoveries processes which could lead to figures being distorted. Lenders may submit guarantee claims quarterly in line with the terms of the guarantee agreement

Note: Further information on BBLS, CBILS and CLBILS is available on the British Business Bank website.

Definitions

The British Business Bank’s guarantees portal is used by all lenders to report on guaranteed facilities and make claims under the guarantee. The reporting requirements of each scheme vary and due to the scale of the schemes has evolved over time. The portal is updated at various points in a loan lifecycle as reported by lenders:

• on schedule – facilities that are being paid as expected including facilities yet to have a first repayment fall due. The Business Interruption Payment (BIP) was paid by government for 12 months to cover interest and fees (depending on the scheme), for BBLS, full repayments were not due until the end of the 12-month period
• arrears – facilities with missed repayments are deemed to be in arrears. Facilities are tracked in 30, 60 and 90 day cohorts by lenders to manage risk. The British Business Bank receives monthly arrears updates from the lenders via the guarantees portal. Limited arrears are seen in the CBILS and CLBILS portfolio compared to the BBLS portfolio. Facilities in arrears that have moved to a later life-cycle stage (such as Defaulted) will be reported in the later life-cycle stage but may still carry an Arrears balance
• defaulted – facilities where the lender has issued formal demand to the borrower. Facilities in default that have moved to a later life-cycle stage (such as Claimed) will be reported in the later life-cycle stage
• claimed – facilities the lender is seeking payment on under the scheme guarantee. Facilities sit in the claimed status while British Business Bank awaits/processes the invoice for the claim and runs relevant checks. Under the terms of the guarantee the claim must be paid in 30 days
• settled – once the guarantee claim is processed and payment is released, the facility is marked as settled on the guarantees portal. The amount settled to lenders will depend on the level of the government guarantee which varies between schemes
• fully repaid – facilities that have been repaid in full by the borrower and the facility is closed

Limitations and further considerations

The following should be considered in relation to the data:

• data is as at 31 March 2022 from the information continuously submitted to the British Business Bank’s lender portal by accredited lenders. The portal is used by the British Business Bank and lenders to administer the loans. Portal data is dependent on lenders submitting accurate and timely data and is not real-time
• we are still early in the life of the schemes and in the lending cycle, so it is too soon to accurately assess levels of fraud and credit losses
• the terms of and the timing of the schemes were exceptional and may not be representative of the lenders’ risk appetites, their general loan credit quality, or their default experience
• given the size of the schemes, the large numbers of loans, and the speed at which they were offered and drawn down, data being collected remains fluid and subject to refinement and correction over time (comparative analysis may therefore have limitations)
• the timing and level of claims made on the guarantee will vary according to a lender’s business model and the characteristics of their customers (for example repayment options offered, age of businesses, whether new or existing customers)
• the scale of the schemes means some lenders may be more advanced than others in operationalising their Claims and Recoveries processes which could lead to figures being distorted initially but this will stabilise over time
• lenders may submit guarantee claims quarterly in line with the terms of the guarantee
• claims on the guarantee may subsequently benefit from recovery receipts achieved at a later date (which are not reflected in the figures above), and so are not a conclusive indicator of net cost to government
• lenders may have responsibly fulfilled BBLS scheme requirements but still experience a high comparative level of borrower defaults given the lack of credit or affordability checks
• the number of guarantee claims and value is not necessarily related to the amount of fraud in a lender’s portfolio

This data is not suitable to be relied on by any party wishing to acquire rights against the British Business Bank group of companies (“BBB”) or any of the COVID-19 guarantee scheme lenders for any purpose or in any context. Any party choosing to rely on the data detailed in this release (or any part of it) does so at its own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the British Business Bank does not assume any responsibility or liability to any other party in respect of this data.

1. Includes Defaulted, Claimed and Settled ↩