As we enter the fourth week of the coronavirus lockdown, small business seems to be getting little help in survival from the government.
We knew, of course, that there would be difficulties in the Treasury delivering such a complex financial package designed to save companies from terminal pain. But we assumed that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak-much praised for what appeared initially to be an innovative rescue plan for small business-would be able to deliver it.
That patently has not happened.
And over the weekend, it was alarming to hear from the Business Secretary himself, Alok Sharma, that the delivery of the much heralded Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) was hardly out of the starting blocks.
Alarmingly, Alok Sharma told the Andrew Marr programme on Sunday only 4,200 loans under the scheme worth just over £800 million had so far been made. “Yes, more money needs to go out faster”, admitted Sharma. And he added: ”I have spent the last couple of days talking to some of the major providers of finance. They have assured me that they are working at pace-working over the weekend-making sure they can assess these loans as quickly as possible”.
Pace now seems to be part of government jargon giving the impression of an acceleration of work. This does not appear to have happened with this flagship initiative.
“We have designed these schemes at pace”, said the Minister. ”We wanted to have the right balance between making sure we get the money out quickly to the vast amount of people who need it, and at the same time there are safeguards to protect the taxpayer as well”.
Andrew Marr asked Alok Sharma: “Why are we so slow?” He made the point that Switzerland had already managed to hand out 70 000 loans to business.
And Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce of which Business West is a leading player, is rightly concerned about the government’s loan schemes operating properly.
“The big date that concerns me is April 25”, warns Adam. ”That is payday for a huge part of the UK”.
He is right.
If government cannot deliver to time on their financial rescue packages quickly then there will be absolute carnage for small businesses fighting to survive.
Delivery must now be at pace.
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