Coronavirus: PM back, CBILS developments, DMA and Partners Call for Support for SME directors

After some weeks off, Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work this morning after his spell recovering from coronavirus.

While he adopted a positive tone, he outlined that now is not the time to lift restrictions - in contrast to some speculation in the media over the weekend - and that further time of isolation will be necessary before the UK can begin to lift restrictions.

Nonetheless, it is expected that how these restrictions will be lifted will be outlined over the coming days.

Later today, it is reported that the Chancellor will offer an extension of the government guarantee - currently at 80% - to some of the CBILS loans.

However, the likelihood is that a 100% guarantee on loans will only be offered to those loans of £25k or less.

The DMA is continuing to push for this level of guarantee to be given for loans of greater value, and for the process to be simplified and made more accessible. Only half of the CBILS applications have been approved, and £2.5bn has been issued for around 16k loans.

Today, the DMA has joined with 7 other trade bodies to call for greater support for self-employed and company directors. In a joint letter, we have called for Government to allow directors of small businesses access to either the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) or Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), to expedite the process of delivering funds under SEISS before it is due to go live in June, and to make the process of accessing Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBILs) a smoother one. Read more here.