For all business owners concerned about the latest news surrounding the Coronavirus, today we’re focusing on what will help us through the next few weeks. The British Business Bank will shortly be launching their own form of support – a temporary scheme known as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Coronavirus has been making marks on the world’s economy and many European countries have started to order temporary shutdowns of shared workspaces, which has a significant effect on how thousands of business operate. At the time of this writing, Italy has been in full-scale lockdown for three days, part of Belgium has announced a similar strategy against the virus, and some are speculating that in the UK we aren’t that far off from the same.

Going into lockdown, amidst the already-established advice to self-isolate to protect against the Coronavirus, could prevent many businesses from going about their daily tasks, and ultimately lead to income loss so severe, it could end in bankruptcy.

But there is hope.

The Coronavirus has already sunk some well-known names, but under this new initiative, lenders will receive a guarantee of 80% for each loan worth up to £1.2 million – and there will be no charge for this guarantee. This offers a bit of peace of mind over lending, at the very least.

In total, the BBB will support up to £1 billion extra in lending, for the time being.

On an individual basis, all businesses and those struggling to make ends meet due to self-employment may be eligible. If you fall under this umbrella, contact HMRC’s COVID-19 helpline to find out more – 0800 0159 559.

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