Coronavirus Business Support Hub

BCRS Business Loans is committed to supporting the needs of West Midlands based businesses that have been affected by the Coronavirus crisis. We want to do all that we can to help you during this unsettling time.

We have launched a brand-new fund called the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) with the British Business Bank, which offers dedicated loans to businesses affected by the pandemic. Plus, the Government will make a Business Interruption Payment to cover the first 12 months of interest payments and any lender-levied fees, so smaller businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments.

We have also put together some other useful bits of information for you, such as:

details about our modified loan process to heed social distancing advice
our top tips for a speedy loan process; and
other financial support measures available to help

Modified Loan Process

To protect the health of our team and the businesses we support, we have temporarily removed all face-to-face meetings from our loan process, which is a crucial step in slowing the spread of Coronavirus.

The process will still be fast and simple but will use the telephone, email and virtual meeting methods until further notice.

Our modified four-step loan process is as follows:

Submit an online initial application form

Your application form will be reviewed and you will receive an eligibility response

Eligible businesses will be assigned a dedicated Business Development & Lending Manager who will support you throughout your loan application via the telephone, email and virtual meetings

Successful applicants can expect their loan application and approval process to take an average of 2-3 weeks.

Key Points and Tips for CBILS Applications

Below are some ‘top tips’ from our Head of Credit, Tony, to ensure your loan application process runs as quickly and smoothly as possible:

We currently view CBILS as covering working capital requirements for the next three months
Applicants will need to demonstrate that their business was viable prior to the Coronavirus pandemic i.e up to end of December 2019
Start-up businesses are not eligible to access finance from CBILS
If you are a new customer, we need to see accounts for the past three years. If your business has been trading for less than three years, please let us have your accounts so far
We need to see your last set of accounts if you are an existing customer
All customers, new and existing, will need to provide full management accounts to the end of December 2019. Unless your balance sheet is positive at this point, we may not be able to assist
We require a six-month cashflow forecast to demonstrate your working capital requirements over the next three months under the current circumstances, plus the following three months when trade is expected to begin again – see Top 10 Tips for a Speedy Loan Application page
If you are a new customer and have a Time to Pay arrangement with HMR&C, we can only accept applications where the arrangement was made after February 2020
We require a full Experian or Equifax report for each director/owner/partner and you must have a clean personal credit history – no CCJs, IVAs or bankruptcies
Experian/ Equifax report should correlate to the information found on the personal assets/liabilities/income/expenditure forms
Unpaid items at your bank prior to the end of December 2019 may adversely affect your application
Before submitting, please ensure that your loan application form has no gaps – if a particular field is not applicable, please mark it accordingly and note the reason

Additional Financial Support for Businesses

The Chancellor has set out a package of temporary, timely and targeted measures to support public services, people and businesses through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19.

This includes a package of measures to support businesses including:

a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
deferring VAT and Income Tax payments
a Statutory Sick Pay relief package for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs)
a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery businesses in England
small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief
grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank
a new lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms, helping them bridge Coronavirus disruption to their cash flows through loans the HMRC Time To Pay Scheme

For further information on these measures, please visit the Government’s Financial Support for Businesses during Coronavirus page.

Further Guidance for Employees, Employers and Businesses:

Further Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance for employees, employers and business is available on the Government’s website.