Due to the extensive economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom's Government created a range of measures to help support businesses survive the loss in revenues and cashflow. The help smaller businesses (SMEs), the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) was set up. The scheme operates through the British Business Bank via more than ** accredited lenders including high street banks, challenger banks, asset based lenders and smaller specialist local lenders. These lenders can then provide up to ************ British pounds (GBP) in the form of term loans, overdraft, invoice finance and asset finance.

Between the **** of May, 2020 and the **** of May, 2021, the cumulative value of lending through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) reached approximately ***** billion British pounds with more than ******* facilities approved.

In response to the extensive economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom's Government created a range of measures to help support businesses survive the loss in revenues and cashflow. To help mid-sized and larger enterprises with a group turnover of more than ** million British pounds, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) was set up.

The scheme operates through the British Business Bank via accredited lenders, which can provide up to *** million British pounds in finance. These lenders can then provide finance in the form of term loans, revolving credit facilities (overdrafts), invoice finance and asset finance. For term loans and revolving credit facilities, finance that could be offered was increased from ** million GBP after an announcement by HM Treasury on the **** of May 2020.

Between the **** of May, 2020 and the **** of May, 2021, the cumulative value of approved facilities through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) in the United Kingdom (UK) had amounted to **** billion British pounds across more than *** approved facilities.

In response to the extensive economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom's government created a range of measures to help support businesses survive the loss in revenues and cashflow. To help businesses, the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) was set up. The scheme, which is a part of a wider package of government support for UK businesses and employees allows lenders to provide a six-year term loan from ************ British pounds up to ** percent of a business' turnover. The maximum loan amount is currently fifty thousand British pounds.

Between ************ and ************, nearly **** million businesses have been approved for finance with the cumulative value of lending through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) amounting to approximately **** billion British pounds.

Monthly loan figures (number of items issued) by branch library for April 2008 to present. Additional information An issue is any item issued from the library catalogue Blank means no data available In 2020, all libraries closed from 19 March included due to the coronavirus outbreak. The re-opening of our libraries remained inline with government restrictions from July 2020 and responsive to local need, with many variations during the months of the Covid-19 pandemic. All Newcastle Libraries began to re-open from 12th April 2021.

The government of the United Kingdom borrowed approximately 149.7 billion British pounds in the 2024/25 financial year. In 2020/21, government borrowing was almost 311 billion pounds, due to increased financial support to public services during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with reduced revenue due to the lockdowns.

With government schemes introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic soon ending, IBISWorld assesses how likely it is that businesses and consumers will turn to P2P lending for finance.

Public sector net debt amounted to 93.5 percent of gross domestic product in the United Kingdom during the 2024/25 financial year. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, UK government debt has reached levels not seen since the early 1960s, due to a significant increase in borrowing in 2020/21. After peaking at 251.7 percent shortly after the end of the Second World War, government debt in the UK gradually fell, before a sharp increase in the late 2000s at the time of the global financial crisis. Debt not expected to start falling until 2029/30 In 2024/25, the UK's government expenditure was approximately 1.28 trillion pounds, around 44 percent of GDP. This spending was financed by 1.14 trillion pounds of revenue raised, and almost 150 billion pounds of borrowing. Although the UK government can continue to borrow money to finance its spending, the amount spent on debt interest has increased significantly in recent years. Current forecasts suggest that while the debt is eventually expected to start declining, this is based on falling government deficits in the next five years. Government facing hard choices Hitting fiscal targets, such as reducing the national debt, will require a careful balancing of the books from the current government, and the possibility for either spending cuts or tax rises. Although Labour ruled out raising the main government tax sources, Income Tax, National Insurance, and VAT, at the 2024 election, they did raise National Insurance for employers (rather than employees) and also cut Winter Fuel allowances for large numbers of pensioners. Less than a year after implementing cuts to Winter Fuel, the government performed a U-Turn on the issue, and also held back on more significant cuts to welfare.

By the end of the UK's job retention scheme, which ran from April 2020, to September 2021, approximately **** million jobs, from *** million different employers, were furloughed in the United Kingdom. The day with the most jobs furloughed at once was May 8, 2020, when **** million jobs were on the job retention scheme. The scheme, introduced in response to the economic damage caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, covered ** percent of an employees' usual monthly wage, up to ***** British pounds a month. How much did the scheme cost? The UK government spent approximately ** billion British pounds on the job retention scheme. Due to spending commitments such as this, as well as depressed revenue sources, UK government finances took a severe hit in the 2020/21 financial year. Government borrowing was approximately ***** billion pounds in 2020/21, while government debt as a share of GDP shot up from around ** percent in 2018/19 to almost ** percent by 2020/21. Getting this debt down has proven difficult in subsequent financial years, with high inflation, war in Ukraine, and the Cost of Living Crisis putting even more pressure on public finances. Popular scheme not enough to save Sunak Former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, held the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout the duration of the furlough scheme. While this scheme and Sunak himself were popular for much of that time, Sunak saw his popularity tumble. Shortly after succeeding Liz Truss as Prime Minister in October 2021, Sunak was seen by ** percent of people as being the best person for his job, but by May 2024, just before he announced the 2024 General Election, just ** percent of people thought he made the best Prime Minister. Sunak and the Conservatives went on to suffer a historic loss at this election, winning just *** seats, compared with the *** won in the 2019 General Election.

Government debt in the United Kingdom reached over 2.8 trillion British pounds in 2024/25, compared with 2.69 trillion pounds in the previous financial year. Although debt has been increasing throughout this period, there is a noticeable jump between 2019/20, and 2020/21, when debt increased from 1.82 trillion pounds, to 2.15 trillion. The UK's government debt was the equivalent of 93.5 percent of GDP in 2024/25, and is expected to increase slightly in coming years, and not start falling until the end of this decade. Public finances in a tight spot With government debt approaching 100 percent of GDP, the UK finds itself in a tricky fiscal situation. If the UK can't reduce it's spending, or increase its revenue, the government will have to continue borrowing large amounts, increasing the debt further. Adding to the problem, is the fact that financing this debt has got steadily more expensive recently, with the government currently spending more on debt interest than it does on defence, transport, and public order and safety. Can the UK grow out its debt? After the Second World War, when the national debt reached over 250 percent of GDP, the UK managed to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio, due to the economy growing faster than its debt over a long period of time. This is certainly the hope of the current Labour government, who are seeking to avoid significant tax and spending adjustments by strengthening the economy. Overdue investments in infrastructure and increased capital spending may eventually achieve this goal, but the government's declining popularity suggests they may not be in power by the time these policies might eventually bear fruit.

The government of the United Kingdom borrowed approximately 2.6 percent worth of its GDP in the 2024/25 financial year, compared with 2.3 percent in 2023/24. In 2020/21, government borrowing reached 11.6 percent of GDP, due to increased financial support to public services during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with reduced revenue because of societal lockdowns.

One of the major duties the Bank of England (BoE) is tasked with is keeping inflation rates low and stable. The usual tactic for keeping inflation rates down, and therefore the price of goods and services stable by the Bank of England is through lowering the Bank Rate. Such a measure was used in 2008 during the global recession when the BoE lowered the bank base rate from **** percent to *** percent. Due to the economic fears surrounding the COVID-19 virus, as of the 19th of March 2020, the bank base rate was set to its lowest ever standing. The issue with lowering interest rates is that there is an end limit as to how low they can go. Quantitative easing Quantitative easing is a measure that central banks can use to inject money into the economy to hopefully boost spending and investment. Quantitative easing is the creation of digital money in order to purchase government bonds. By purchasing large amounts of government bonds, the interest rates on those bonds lower. This in turn means that the interest rates offered on loans for the purchasing of mortgages or business loans also lowers, encouraging spending and stimulating the economy. Large enterprises jump at the opportunity After the initial stimulus of *** billion British pounds through quantitative easing in March 2020, the Bank of England announced in June that they would increase the amount by a further 100 billion British pounds. In March of 2020, the headline flow of borrowing by non-financial industries including construction, transport, real estate and the manufacturing sectors increased significantly.

In January 2021, approximately **** million jobs in Europe's three largest economies were being supported by temporary employment schemes, with the UK's job retention scheme supporting approximately **** million jobs, France's Chômage partiel scheme *** million, while *** million workers were on Germany's Kurzarbeit system. Although some of these partial employment mechanisms were already in place before the COVID-19 pandemic, their usage accelerated considerably after the first Coronavirus lockdowns in Spring 2020. How much will this cost European governments? Early on in the pandemic, European governments moved swiftly to limit the damage that the Coronavirus pandemic would cause to the labor market. The spectre of mass unemployment, which would put a huge strain on European benefit systems anyway, was enough to encourage significant government spending and intervention. To this end, the European Union made 100 billion Euros of loans available through it's unemployment support fund (SURE). As of March 2021, Italy had received ***** billion Euros in loans from the SURE mechanism, and is set to be loaned **** billion Euros overall. Spain and Poland will receive the second and third highest amount from the plan, at **** billion, and ***** billion Euros respectively. What about the UK? The United Kingdom is not involved in the European Union's SURE scheme, but has also paid substantial amounts of money to keep unemployment at bay. As of January 31, 2021, there had been more than **** million jobs furloughed on the UK's job retention scheme. By this date, the expenditure of this measure had reached **** billion British pounds, with this figure expected to increase further, following the extension of the scheme to September 2021.