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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to amend the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to remove the requirement for the lender to ask for personal guarantees.

Under the British Business Bank’s scheme rules, Personal Guarantees of any form cannot be requested to support a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facility below £250,000. This has been made clear in the guidance provided to all the CBILS accredited lenders.

Personal guarantees for facilities above £250,000 may still be required, at a lender’s discretion, but they exclude the Principal Private Residence (PPR) which cannot be used for a Personal Guarantee. Recoveries under these loans are capped at a maximum of 20% of the outstanding balance of the CBILS facility after the proceeds of business assets have been applied.

These terms were updated on 3 April 2020. The British Business Bank has communicated that the changes should be retrospectively applied by lenders for any CBILS facilities offered since 23 March 2020.