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Covid-19 Business Support In England (Archive – All Schemes Closed)

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Last updated: August 12th, 2026

Archive — every scheme on this page has closed. This article was written in March 2020 as a summary of the Covid-19 support measures then available to businesses in England. None of them are open. The government-backed lending scheme available today is the Growth Guarantee Scheme. This page is kept as a record and has been condensed, because the original detail is long out of date.

What Was Announced In 2020

Between March and May 2020 the government introduced a package of temporary measures for businesses. In outline:

  • Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) — guaranteed lending from £50,001 to £5 million, with the government covering the first 12 months of interest and lender fees. Closed to new applications at the end of March 2021
  • Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) — introduced in May 2020 for smaller facilities up to £50,000. Closed at the same time as CBILS
  • Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) — the equivalent for larger businesses. Also closed at the end of March 2021
  • Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme — the furlough scheme, which ran until autumn 2021
  • Self-Employment Income Support Scheme — grants for the self-employed, which also ended in 2021
  • Business rates relief and grant funding for retail, hospitality and leisure premises
  • VAT deferral and HMRC Time to Pay arrangements
  • Statutory Sick Pay rebate for smaller employers

Across the three loan schemes, more than £79 billion was advanced, with Bounce Back Loans accounting for over 93% of the facilities.

What Replaced Them

The Recovery Loan Scheme took over from the pandemic schemes in April 2021 and ran until 30 June 2024. It was succeeded on 1 July 2024 by the Growth Guarantee Scheme, which is the government-backed scheme in place today.

GGS is not a crisis measure. There is no requirement to show you have been affected by any particular event, and no government contribution to interest or fees. Facilities run generally up to £2 million per business group, with a 70% guarantee to the lender, for businesses turning over up to £45 million.

One feature of all these schemes is worth restating, because it was widely misunderstood at the time and still is: the guarantee protects the lender, not the borrower. Businesses always remained fully liable for repaying what they borrowed.

If you hold a facility taken out under any of the pandemic schemes, contact the lender that provided it — we cannot administer or vary a facility we did not arrange.

Funding Available Now

We are an independent commercial finance broker in Bolton. Call 0161 546 9128 or get in touch. We charge no broker fees.

Bolton Business Finance Ltd is a commercial finance broker arranging non-regulated business and commercial property finance. We are not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This page is a historical record and is not advice.