Taxi drivers to hairdressers: Bounce Back loans passes one million approved firms milestone

The number of Bounce Back loans approved for small firms to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic has passed the one million milestone according to new figures released by the Government.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has been seen as a success in providing firms with vital Government-backed loans at a low, affordable rate and with no interest or repayments due in the first year. The latest figures released this week shows that loans worth £30.93billion have now been approved to date.

Small companies across the country, ranging from taxi drivers to hairdressers, have accessed loans of up to £50,000 to help them through the pandemic.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Our small businesses are the powerhouse of our economy and will help drive our recovery as we bounce back from this global crisis.

“We’ve worked hard to give small businesses the help they need- from loans and grants to paying the wages of their staff.

"I’m delighted that more than a million loans have been approved – and we will continue to do all we can to support small business as they reopen their doors in the weeks ahead."

Business Secretary Alok Sharma, said: “We promised to stand behind small businesses to get through this crisis - and we’ve done just that.

“As we get Britain’s economic engines firing again, we will not only support businesses to get back on their feet, but also do all we can to level up the economy across every part of our country."

The Bounce Back Loan scheme is one part of the Government’s package of business support that includes: £27.4 billion to pay the wages of furloughed staff at 1.1 million firms, over 860,000 business properties benefiting from £10.5 billion of business grants, and VAT deferrals and scrapping businesses rates.

Latest figures also reveal that businesses have benefitted from 53,536 loans worth over £11.4 billion through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme, 394 large businesses have benefitted from £2.58 billion via the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and over £379 million has been invested in 376 companies through the Future Fund.