The covid loan schemes The government’s speedy launch of the various Coronavirus Business Support loan schemes when the pandemic struck in 2020 was one of the most important planks in the raft of measures intended to prevent viable businesses from failing as Covid ravaged the UK economy. By May 2021 when the schemes closed to new applications, a total of
When the Insolvency Service published its statistics for the second quarter of 2022, all the attention was on the headline, overall numbers. There were 5,629 corporate insolvencies in England & Wales in Q2 2022, an increase of 12.7% compared to Q1 2022’s figures of 4,995 and an increase of 81.3% compared to Q2 2021 (3,105). The more meaningful comparison given
It is impossible right now to watch a news broadcast, read a newspaper or scan through a news website without being struck by the warnings of Armageddon for our pubs, clubs and restaurants, already weakened by the pandemic. Calls for immediate and targeted help from the government for the hospitality sector are multiplying and escalating. Energy prices The main focus
Financial cracks are emerging on personal finances Tangible signs of the impact of the cost of living crisis created by rampant inflation on personal finances are starting to appear. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is predicting that by 2024 that one in five UK households (over five million) will have no savings and a further two
As businesses emerge from two years of pandemic related stress (financial and otherwise) it would be easy to look at the increasing headwinds of rising inflation, increasing interest rates, and supply chain issues and think “it’s now or never”. In these times, it can be tempting for businesses to throw everything at the target of increasing turnover, back to pre-COVID
The flip side of rampant inflation is how it deflates not just the disposable income available for the basics in life, such as food, energy and transport, but the resources available for individuals to repay past debts through an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). Almost 160,000 IVAs were started in 2020 and 2021 in England and Wales and a further 42,789
