Transparency data

COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes performance data as at 31 December 2023

Published 29 February 2024

This publication is the quarterly performance update on the COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes, inclusive of:

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

Data points are aligned across schemes, with lender level data on all portfolios. Scheme level data is also available in the aggregated totals included in the tables.

As part of the government’s ongoing commitment to provide transparency on scheme performance, supplemental data is included on guarantee removals and additional activities that reduce the taxpayer obligations under scheme guarantees.

Data tables (1 to 12) are available in downloadable format along with notes. When reviewing the data, please refer to the definitions and limitations included in the publication to enable a meaningful evaluation.

1. Headline figures

These are aggregated figures across all schemes.

• £76.98 billion: the total drawn value
• £24.56 billion: the outstanding balance of total drawn loans making payments on schedule
• £20.45 billion: the amount that has been fully repaid by borrowers
• £2.05 billion: the outstanding balance of loans in arrears that have not yet progressed to defaulted
• £0.58 billion: the outstanding balance of loans defaulted that have not yet progressed to claimed
• £0.63 billion: the outstanding balance of loans claimed that have not yet progressed to settled
• £9.21 billion: the total settled amount (the amount paid out to lenders under all schemes’ guarantee agreements)
• £19.49 billion: outstanding balance reduction (see appropriate paragraph for detailed explanation)
• £1.84 billion: the total drawn value flagged by lenders as suspected fraud* (BBLS and CBILS)
• BBLS accounts for the majority of the COVID-19 loan schemes, by both volume and total value of loans

(See Table 1, Table 6 and Table 10 for lender level details of outstanding balances and final amounts for BBLS, CBILS and CLBILS respectively).

*There are no CLBILS loans subject to the guarantee that have been flagged as suspected fraud by lenders.

2. Reduction in guarantee obligations

As the scheme portfolios are maturing, there is a degree of reduction in the schemes’ guarantee obligations. The contributory factors are reported in 2 data set categorisations:

2.1 Outstanding balance reduction

To date, the outstanding balance of total drawn loans has reduced by £19.49 billion with a corresponding reduction in obligations under the schemes guarantees. Reasons for this reduction include:

• standard repayments as per the loan’s repayment plan
• recoveries made prior to a claim
• one-off lump sum overpayments
• claimed and settled CBILS and CLBILS facilities only, the 20% of the outstanding balance that was not guaranteed and therefore not paid by government
• other ad-hoc payments that have reduced the outstanding balance of the loans

There is no obligation for lenders to report standard repayments until a facility is in arrears or defaults. Consequently, reductions in outstanding balances are calculated based on term, drawn value, arrears and whether any forbearance measures have been agreed such as Pay As You Grow. Loans amortise at different rates and the standard repayment plans will vary.

2.2 Guarantee removals

Removal of the guarantee is in general instigated when a lender submits a request to remove a guarantee to the British Business Bank. The payments on each facility are reviewed and where Business Interruption Payment (BIP), Scheme Lender Fee (SLF), or a claim is either paid or received, the amounts are refunded accordingly. The lender is then issued with a communication confirming the guarantee is removed from the facility.

As at 16 January 2024, the government guarantee has been removed from 11,720 loans to a total value of £1.02 billion. Guarantee removal values and volumes can and do fluctuate; guarantees can be retrospectively removed or added at any given time. It is important to note all amendments are processed in accordance with the British Business Bank and Scheme governance requirements.

3. Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) performance data

Businesses have drawn a total of £46.59 billion (see Table 3). 73.63% of BBLS facilities by volume are either fully repaid (12.48% - up from 12.01% in the previous publication) or On Schedule (61.15% - down from 62.89 % in the previous publication). 5.53% of all scheme facilities by volume are currently in arrears (but not yet progressed to defaulted) and 1.08% by volume are currently defaulted (but have not yet progressed to claimed by lenders). The government guarantee has so far been settled on 18.39% of the total BBLS facilities by volume (see Table 2 and Figure 1).

Lenders have flagged £1.79 billion of the £46.59 billion of BBLS drawn value as suspected fraud (see Table 3). The data shows that, of the £8.52 billion total settled amount as at 31 December 2023, £1.45 billion has been paid out to lenders against loans with a suspected fraud flag (see Table 4). Since fraudulent loans are likely to be among the first to default, it is assumed that the proportion of guarantee claims linked to loans with a suspected fraud flag should decline as the scheme matures, although this will only become apparent over time.

3.1 Figure 1: Furthest life event reached by volume (percentage of facilities) – BBLS

Notes on Figure 1

Fully repaid is the final life event, but is displayed first in this figure for readability.

Figure 1 shows the volume of BBLS loans, per lender, with the furthest life event reached. This data adds up to 100% because it is based on the volume of loans drawing on individual loan level data from lenders which reports the status of each loan – rather than the value of the loans (where, there may be small discrepancies in the total depending on the precise payment status of the loans).

3.2 Pay As You Grow (PAYG)

34.29% of BBLS businesses have used 1 or more of the Pay As You Grow options offered under the scheme (up from 33.71% since the previous publication). These options give greater flexibility to businesses that wish to manage their loan repayments more effectively by offering a variety of options to structure their repayments (see Table 5).

4. Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) performance data

Businesses have drawn a total of £25.84 billion (see Table 8). 91.24% of CBILS facilities by volume are either fully repaid (35.74% - up from 32.84% in the previous publication) or On Schedule (55.50% - down from 59.07 % in the previous publication). 1.46% of all scheme facilities by volume are currently in arrears (but not yet progressed to defaulted) and 1.12% by volume are currently defaulted (but have not yet progressed to claimed by lenders). The government guarantee has so far been settled on 5.35% of the total CBILS facilities by volume (see Table 7 and Figure 2).

Lenders have flagged £0.05 billion of the £25.84 billion of CBILS drawn value as suspected fraud (see Table 8). The data shows that, of the £0.66 billion total settled amount as at 31 December 2023, £0.02 billion has been paid out to lenders against loans with a suspected fraud flag (see Table 9).

4.1 Figure 2: Furthest life event reached by volume (percentage of facilities) – CBILS

Lenders with more than 4,000 facilities

Lenders with 201 to 4,000 facilities

Lenders with 76 to 200 facilities

Lenders with 26 to 75 facilities

Lenders with fewer than 26 facilities

Notes on Figure 2

Fully repaid is the final life event, but is displayed first in this figure for readability.

Figure 2 shows the volume of CBILS loans, per lender, with the furthest life event reached. This data adds up to 100% because it is based on the volume of loans drawing on individual loan level data from lenders which reports the status of each loan – rather than the value of the loans (where, there may be small discrepancies in the total depending on the precise payment status of the loans).

5. Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) performance data

Businesses have drawn a total of £4.54 billion (see Table 12). 97.77% of CLBILS facilities by volume are either fully repaid (88.33% - up from 73.06% in the previous publication) or On Schedule (9.44% - down from 24.58 % in the previous publication). 0.42% of all scheme facilities by volume are currently in arrears (but not yet progressed to defaulted) and no facility is currently in default. The government guarantee has so far been settled on 1.53% of the total CLBILS facilities by volume (see Table 11 and Figure 3).

There are no CLBILS loans subject to the guarantee that have been flagged as suspected fraud by lenders.

5.1 Figure 3: Furthest life event reached by volume (percentage of facilities) – CLBILS

Notes on Figure 3

Fully repaid is the final life event, but is displayed first in this figure for readability.

Figure 3 shows the volume of CLBILS loans, per lender, with the furthest life event reached. This data adds up to 100% because it is based on the volume of loans drawing on individual loan level data from lenders which reports the status of each loan – rather than the value of the loans (where, there may be small discrepancies in the total depending on the precise payment status of the loans).

6. Notes on suspected fraud reporting

The figures presented in this publication are indicative levels of suspected fraud identified as at 31 December 2023. These data points are reliant on lenders’ fraud tolerance thresholds. A loan facility is marked as suspected fraud where a lender has determined that there are sufficient grounds to suspect that fraud may have occurred, and further investigation is warranted.

Lenders are continually adapting their processes for identifying and combatting fraud to counter new methods employed by bad actors. As such, figures for suspected fraud will vary from quarter to quarter, both for individual lenders and the overall schemes.

It is important to note that ‘suspected fraud’ will not necessarily equate to actual fraud in the scheme and the marking of a loan as ‘suspected fraud’ within the Scheme Portal does not necessarily mean that there has been any proven wrongdoing on the part of the borrower. Lenders are not law enforcement agencies or investigatory organisations. Ultimately it is for law enforcement and the courts to determine if fraud has been committed.

7. Data tables

The data tables for the COVID-19 loan guarantee schemes (ODS file, 66 KB) are published alongside this release.

8. Definitions

8.1 Loan values

The value for:

• ‘claimed’ is the amount claimed under the guarantee
• ‘settled’ is the amount paid out under the guarantee
• ‘fully repaid’ is the full loan amount
• all other life events is the outstanding balance

8.2 Other definitions

Arrears

Loans with missed repayments are deemed to be in arrears. Loans are tracked in 30, 60 and 90 day cohorts by lenders to manage risk. Lenders report monthly arrears updates through the Scheme Portal on a “best endeavours” basis. Some lenders submit arrears via the automated (API) functionality in the Scheme Portal, but it is not always possible for smaller lenders to integrate with this functionality so arrears are sometimes entered manually. Loans 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 arrears. At the time of this event occurring, this is an actual balance, and not estimated.

Claimed

The lender has submitted a claim under the guarantee. Loans sit in the claimed status while the British Business Bank awaits/processes the invoice for the claim and runs relevant checks. Under the terms of the guarantee lenders may submit claims quarterly and then the claim must be paid within 30 days of receipt of the claims invoice.

Claimed value (reason fraud)

This indicates suspected fraud at the time of submitting a claim. Not all these facilities will materialise as actual fraud. Lenders give a reason for a claim being made when they submit a claim on the guarantee. Currently, there are only 2 reasons a lender can provide for submitting a claim - either credit loss or fraud. This is separate to the process of marking a loan as suspected fraud and lenders cannot change the reason for a claim being made once the claim is settled. This value is the amount claimed under the respective guarantee agreement for all loans that have had a claim made where the claim reason is fraud.

Defaulted

Loans where the lender has issued a formal demand to the borrower. At the time of this occurring, this is an actual balance, and not estimated.

Drawn value

The total loan amount for loans which have been drawn down by the borrower.

Facility or facilities

Refers to a COVID-19 Loan Scheme facility or facilities, being either a term loan facility, a revolving credit facility, an invoice finance facility, or an asset finance facility (as applicable) made available by an accredited lender to a borrower.

Fully repaid

The loan is considered closed as there is no further outstanding balance on the loan (the borrower has repaid the full amount).

Loan

Includes term loan facilities only for BBLS but for CBILS and CLBILS this also includes, for certain lenders, revolving credit, asset finance and invoice finance facilities.

On schedule

The loan is being repaid as expected, including loans for which repayment is not yet due. The government paid a Business Interruption Payment (BIP) to cover the first 12 months of interest due on a BBLS loan. For BBLS, monthly principal repayments were not due to commence until the end of the 12-month period.

The government also paid a BIP for CBILS which covered the first 12 months of interest and upfront fees on the facility. There were no features similar to BBLS in CBILS and CLBILS in relation to 12-month payment holidays for monthly principal payments.

Outstanding balance

When used to describe on schedule is a projected figure based on the amortisation profile of individual loans. It uses existing data points to identify the remaining loan value but is limited due to some lender data not being available.

% of drawn value

A lender’s total drawn value as a percentage of total drawn value in the scheme.

Scheme portal

The database hosted by the Bank as part of its role in administering the schemes. It is used by all accredited scheme lenders to report on guaranteed loans and make claims under the guarantee agreement. The reporting requirements have evolved over time. The portal is updated at various points in a loan lifecycle as reported by lenders.

The scheme portal is the system of record for all facilities delivered through the COVID-19 debt guarantee schemes (which includes BBLS, CBILS and CLBILS). Under the terms of the guarantee agreements, accredited lenders must submit facility level data into the portal on a periodic basis to allow British Business Bank to track the exposure of His Majesty’s Government (HMG) to the portfolio.

Settled

Settlement has been made following a lender making a claim. Once the guarantee claim is processed and payment is released, the loan is marked as settled on the Scheme Portal.

80% of the drawn value for CBILS and CLBILS is guaranteed, compared to 100% of the drawn value of BBLS (in each case minus any payments and recoveries made in respect of the loan). The guarantee covers interest for BBLS, CLBILS and for the revolving credit and invoice finance variants of CBILS. All businesses remain responsible for repaying their loans under the schemes and are fully liable for the debt before, as well as after, a claim is made on the guarantee.

Suspected fraud

Drawn facilities which are currently flagged as suspected fraud by lenders. This flag can be added or removed by lenders at any point, and only the latest position can be provided. Suspected fraud value is a subset of the drawn value.

Suspected fraud value

Value of drawn loans which are currently flagged as suspected fraud by lenders.

9. Limitations and further considerations

The following should be considered in relation to the data:

• data is as at 31 December 2023, unless otherwise stated, and extracted on 16 January 2024, from the information continuously submitted to the Scheme Portal by accredited scheme lenders. The accuracy of the data in the Scheme portal is dependent on lenders submitting accurate and timely data and the data is not real-time
• the terms of and the timing of the BBLS, CBILS, and CLBILS was exceptional and may not be representative of the lenders’ risk appetites, their general loan credit quality, or their default experience on their business-as-usual lending
• given the size of the BBLS, CBILS and CLBILS, the large numbers of loans, and the speed at which they were offered and drawn down, data being collected remains fluid and subject to refining and correction over time
• the timing and level of claims made under 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 BBLS, CBILS or CLBILS loans were offered to new customers or only the lender’s 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
• lenders report arrears at different stages in a loan life cycle. What one lender may report as arrears another lender may not (for example some lenders will only report arrears at 90 days past due while others report arrears at 31 days past due), as such, comparisons should not be drawn from arrears data
• the guarantee agreements do not prescribe when a lender should serve demand on a borrower. This means that some lenders’ defaults will appear higher than others, but this may be because of their approach to the timing (amongst other things) as opposed to an indication of borrower behaviour and/or any overall management issues of their book
• claims on the guarantee may subsequently benefit from recovery receipts achieved at a later date (which are not reflected in the figures above), in which case the net cost to government would reduce. All borrowers remain liable to repay the debt after a claim has been made under the BBLS, CBILS and CLBILS guarantee agreements
• for the BBLS portfolio lenders may have responsibly fulfilled scheme requirements but still experience a high comparative level of borrower defaults given the relaxation of credit or affordability checks
• the number of loans claimed, and value, is not necessarily related to the amount of fraud in a lender’s portfolio
• unless otherwise stated, all data excludes loans where a scheme guarantee has been removed and the facility is no longer covered by a scheme

The Bank periodically audits the lenders for compliance with the scheme guarantee agreements. The audit programme includes audits of lenders’ submissions to the scheme portal. However, the Bank does not verify the data in the scheme portal against the data in the lender’s systems (the “source data”) on a real time basis. The accuracy of the reported data in this publication is therefore dependent on accredited scheme lenders reporting the source data they hold on their systems into the scheme portal in a timely and accurate manner. The Bank and the Department for Business and Trade can therefore make no warranties as to whether the source data has been reported accurately.

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, neither the British Business Bank nor the Department for Business and Trade assumes any responsibility or liability to any other party in respect of this data.

The data presented here will be refreshed quarterly and the next release will include data as at 31 March 2024.

9.1 Further information

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