New data on Covid loans to businesses - get it here
This week, the UK government published the long-awaited list of loans awarded to companies under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. This saw emergency taxpayer-backed loans of up to £5 million awarded to businesses affected by Covid.
Although initial requests for this data were denied on the grounds of ‘commercial confidentiality’, yesterday’s disclosure came as a result of work by the Centre for Public Data and Parliamentarians last year, to ensure the UK was complying with its legal responsibilities on data publication.
The data is published on a European Commission website, but the search tool is fiddly, so we’ve also published a copy of all CBILS loans reported to date as a Google Sheet, to make it easier for everyone to explore.
(This is up to date as of Friday 28 May 2021, but for the latest data, always check the EC website! Search for ‘CBILS’ or ‘CLBILS’ in the aid measure search input to find the latest updates.)
Reflections on the data
Notably, it has taken 14 months since the scheme’s roll-out to learn which companies were subsidised under CBILS. In this way, the UK has fallen behind other countries. In the US, the full list of companies subsidised under equivalent support schemes has been published since July 2020.
A commitment to publishing data is a low-cost but vital way to improve accountability, maximise the benefits of subsidy, and safeguard against the potential for fraud. That’s why we are concerned that the forthcoming Subsidy Control Bill, which will replace EU regulation, needs to include stronger provisions on publishing data.
In particular we are concerned that, under the current proposals, the names of many companies being supported will not be released. It is vital that the Government commits to publishing details of all subsidies, in a timely fashion, to ensure the best use of public money. Learn more about this campaign.
Notes on the data
Some notes for anyone exploring the data on CBILS loans:
The accompanying BEIS guidance tells you exactly what is reported and not reported. For example, this data only includes aid of €100,000 or above.
The nominal value of loans is not reported. The only amount reported is the “aid element” - that’s the effective subsidy from the taxpayer. (See the BEIS guidance for more information on the types of schemes used, and guidance on the underlying EU regulations for more information about how the aid elements are calculated.)
BEIS reports loans regardless of whether the loan has been paid back or not.
This release should not be confused with CLBILS loans, to larger businesses - those haven’t been uploaded to the EC website at the time of writing.
Currently, 10,594 recipient names have been uploaded, but the data only covers loans awarded between 23 March and 27 June 2020, pending further uploads.
We welcome the news that this vital data has been published, and thank all those who have worked to make this release possible.