FEATURE CASH FLOW
HE ECONOMIC FALLOUT of lockdown meant many small businesses had little option but to take out loans simply to stay afloat. In July, the Government’s economic development bank – the British Business Bank – announced it had made £45 billion available in loans to support the cash flow of smaller businesses, including over a million ‘Bounce Back’ loans totalling £31 billion. There was also more than £11 billion in lending under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
T
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated cash flow problems for a great many small businesses. According to Late Again, an FSB report published in June 2020, 62 per cent of SMEs have experienced either an increase in late payments and/or had payments frozen completely as a result of Covid-19, while one in 10 were hit by customers lengthening their payment terms. As the report notes ominously, “unless we can successfully tackle the scourge of late payments and, more generally, poor payment practice, many small businesses will be forced to close
Freeing up
Getting paid on time is a perennial issue for small firms, and the Covid-19 pandemic has made the problem even worse. But there are ways businesses can improve their cash situation, as Rob Gray reports
22 | firstvoice | october 2020-january 2021
22-24 CashFlow_First Voice Oct-Dec 2020_First Voice 22
firstvoice.fsb.org.uk
17/09/2020 15:14
