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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether businesses are eligible to (a) apply for and (b) be approved for loans through the Bounce Back Loan scheme and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme at the same time.

A borrower is not able to take out a loan under the Bounce Back Loans Scheme (BBLS) if they have been approved for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme (CBILS) facility, and vice versa.

However, a business that has already taken out a CBILS facility can apply to transfer to a BBLS facility if the BBLS facility will refinance the CBILS facility in full. All accredited lenders who have approved CBILS loans so far will allow customers to refinance their loan into the BBLS where appropriate, however, borrower protections under these schemes differ, and businesses should discuss these with their lender.

Businesses do not need to request the transfer immediately. In order to enable lenders to focus on dealing with new applications first, there will be a window for transfer requests until 4 November 2020.