Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, prior to announcing the Bounce Back Loan Top Up facility in November 2020, what estimate he had made of how many businesses had already taken out a Bounce Back Loan and (a) would and (b) would not be eligible for a Bounce Back Loan Top Up; and what estimate he had made of how much would be borrowed through Bounce Back Loan Top Ups.

The Government has amended the scheme rules to allow those businesses who have borrowed less than their maximum loan (the lower of 25% of their turnover or £50,000) to top-up their existing loan. We understand that some businesses didn’t anticipate the disruption to their business from the pandemic would go on for this long; this will ensure that they are able to benefit from the loan scheme as intended.

Prior to the Top Up facility becoming operational, 1,336,320 loans had been approved, with a total value of £40.20 billion (figures as at 18 October 2020).

The Department estimated that around 360,000 businesses could be eligible for a Top Up based on the parameters of the scheme.