More than 1.6 million firms have been benefited from the various emergency loan schemes during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Treasury’s final monthly update has shown.
The schemes - the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) - have provided almost £180 billion worth of lending as of 25 March, supporting over a quarter of businesses in the UK.
“I said we would do whatever it takes to protect jobs and livelihoods and that is exactly what we have done,” commented the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.
“We’ll continue to protect jobs through our new Recovery Loan Scheme – part of our wider Plan for Jobs – as we move out of this crisis.”
The latest statistics has revealed that three Bounce Back Loans were issued every minute since May 2020 launch.
The CCFF scheme alone supported firms responsible for 2.5 million jobs, including those in the car industry, travel, hospitality, and high street stores.
CBILS, CLBILS and BBLS close for new applications on 31 March. A new Recovery Loan Scheme will open to applications on 6 April to ensure support is still available for those who still need it.
The UK-wide scheme provides an 80 per cent guarantee to lenders for term loans, overdrafts, and invoice and asset finance. The maximum loan size across all products is £10 million and the minimum loan size is £25,000 for term loans and overdrafts, and £1,000 for invoice and asset finance.
It will run until 31 December, administered by the British Business Bank via a diverse network of accredited commercial lenders.
The CCFF also closed to new issuance from 23 March. It will continue to provide finance for firms with outstanding loans in the scheme until March 2022 at the latest.
In addition, a further £1.12 billion of funding has been provided to 1,140 high growth firms through the Future Fund. This scheme, which closed on 31 January, was designed to support innovative UK companies that typically rely on equity investment and whose access to investment was affected by Covid-19. The new Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme will launch in early summer of 2021.
In an unexpected turn of events, Unilever stunned investors today (25) by replacing chief executive Hein Schumacher with finance chief Fernando Fernandez, who will take on the tough task of reviving the consumer group's performance.
Unilever, which gave no specific reason for the change, is facing pressure from investors to revitalise its fortunes and the top management upheaval comes just weeks after Unilever announced underwhelming full-year earnings.
Unilever, which owns Hellmann's mayonnaise, Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, said there was no change to its 2025 outlook or medium-term forecast and that the board was committed to "further accelerating" Schumacher's growth plan.
Schumacher, who joined in July 2023, will step down as CEO in March and leave the company on May 31. He is leaving by mutual agreement, the company said.
"We have made real progress and I am proud of what we have achieved in a short period of time," Schumacher said in a statement.
Srinivas Phatak, currently Unilever's deputy chief financial officer and group controller, will become acting CFO, while the company looks for a permanent replacement.
Schumacher's appointment and strategic changes had been welcomed by billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz, who built a stake in the company in 2022.
Peltz, who is also on Unilever's board, did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent to representatives at his Trian fund.
"We are gobsmacked at the news that Unilever's very highly regarded CEO Hein Schumacher is to step down after a very successful 18 months in charge," RBC Capital analyst James Edwardes Jones said in a note.
When Schumacher became CEO, analysts and investors had applauded Unilever's decision to choose an external candidate as CEO.
"We conclude that it has to be something to do with his style of managing the company. We felt that the job needed an outsider, but maybe this was not the view of a meaningful proportion of Unilever's employees," Jones said.
Schumacher reset the group's strategy to address years of underperformance and laid out cost cuts last year, including separating its ice cream division and cutting thousands of jobs.
But Chairman Ian Meakins said the Board was impressed by Fernandez's "decisive and results-oriented approach", and had given him the task of executing the growth strategy.
"While the Board is pleased with Unilever's performance in 2024, there is much further to go to deliver best-in-class results," Meakins said in a statement.
Fernandez, 58, has been with Unilever since 1988. Before he became CFO last year, he held a number of roles such as President Latin America and CEO Brazil.
"Difficult to see this any other way as a negative, as growth was slowing recently, and the market will worry that more disappointing news may come," said Tineke Frikkee, a portfolio manager at Waverton Investment Management, a Unilever investor.
Frikkee said investors may know Fernandez from when he worked in Unilever's personal care division.
Harsharan Mann in the Global Equities team at Aviva Investors, a Unilever shareholder, said: "We were surprised by the announcement but have a positive view of the CFO and are encouraged by the appointment. He is a 30-year veteran of the business who ran the Beauty and Wellbeing division very well."
Nisa Local on Mountsteven Avenue, operated by retailer Billy Maher, has donated £611.26 to the Bharat Hindu Samaj Mandir in Peterborough through Nisa’s Making a Difference Locally (MADL) initiative.
The donation will help fund the temple’s vital community outreach efforts, which provide essential services to those in need, primarily by supporting the temple's extensive community outreach programs.
The Bharat Hindu Samaj Mandir plays a crucial role in the local community, providing food for homeless individuals in Peterborough, organising everyday activities for elderly members, and supporting local food banks.
Additionally, the temple promotes health and well-being through keep-fit sessions and health checks while extending support to refugees and NHS members.
With a membership base of 1,000 and serving around 3,000 individuals across Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and surrounding areas, the temple is a pillar of community support.
Established in 1973, Bharat Hindu Samaj has a rich history of fostering cultural and religious harmony, welcoming members from diverse backgrounds, including Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Nepali, and Bengali communities.
Beyond local aid, the temple has also provided donations for disaster relief efforts both in the UK and internationally.
Billy Maher, owner of Nisa Local Mountsteven Avenue, expressed his pride in supporting the cause, “Bharat Hindu Samaj Mandir is a cornerstone of the local community, offering essential support to so many people.
"It is an honour to contribute through Nisa’s MADL initiative, and I am delighted that this funding will help sustain their invaluable services.”
Kishor Ladwa, President of Bharat Hindu Samaj Peterborough, shared his gratitude: “Any donation we receive is vital in allowing us to continue our charitable efforts.
"This generous contribution from Nisa Local Mountsteven Avenue will enable us to expand our food distribution programs, continue our elderly support services, and enhance our health and wellbeing activities for the community.
"We are truly grateful. We have some members with Nisa stores and we try to support them and the MADL charity as much as we can.”
Kate Carroll, Head of Charity at Nisa, also commended the donation, “Our Making a Difference Locally initiative aims to support grassroots organisations that make a real impact.
"Bharat Hindu Samaj Mandir has been serving the Peterborough community for decades, and we are proud to play a role in ensuring their continued success.”
Succeeding her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has assumed patronage of the Retail Trust, a charity dedicated to the welfare of retail workers established way back in 1832.
Retail Trust is a known name in among retailers and retail workers. It is known for improving the lives through wellbeing services, vocational and career development programmes, and supported living estates.
The charity offers support through physical, emotional, financial, vocational and educational wellbeing and for the over 55s in supported living services.
Queen Elizabeth II became the Retail Trust’s Patron in 1948 and continued to support the charity’s fundraising events and meet with staff and residents from its supported living estates for retired retail workers throughout her subsequent 70-year reign as monarch.
Welcoming the The Princess Royal, Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, said, “We couldn’t be more honoured that The Princess Royal has become our Patron and in doing so continues the Retail Trust’s 74-year relationship with The Royal Family.
“We’re all extremely grateful for the long-standing support of The late Queen and we’re now very much looking forward to engaging HRH The Princess Royal, our new Patron, with the Retail Trust’s work to protect the health and happiness of UK retail workers.”
The charity works with more than 200 retailers to improve the hope, health and happiness of their staff and runs five supported living estates for people retired from the retail industry, or who are in the care of someone working in or retired from the sector.
Most recently, hundreds of retail workers got free training from the charity to help protect them against an expected rise in abusive incidents over Christmas.
Part of workshop was to help shop staff and delivery drivers feel safer during the busy festive shopping period, more than 1,300 people from over 200 retailers registered for the masterclasses on managing challenging situations in London and online.
Businesses including H&M, bp, Schuh and The Entertainer were among those to sign up their staff for the free training where they were provided with new skills to deal with difficult experiences and behaviour.
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Crime and Policing Bill 2025 aims to reduce retail theft and protect shop workers in the UK
After years of relentless campaigning by retail sector, Crime and Policing Bill is laid in Parliament today (25), paving way for the legislation to create a standalone offence for attacking and abusing a shopworker and the scrapping of "effective immunity" for shop theft offences under the value of £200.
The Crime and Policing Bill is at the heart of what the government calls its "Safer Streets mission". Ministers want it to become law by the end of the year.
The Crime and Policing Bill is set to be backed up by the recruitment of 13,000 additional police officers. Measures outlined in the Bill include:
The ‘effective immunity’ for shop theft offences under the value of £200 will be scrapped
Assaulting a shop worker will become a separate offence
Police will no longer need to apply for a warrant to search a premises where stolen goods have been electronically located
Increased powers to crack down on repeat antisocial behaviour offenders, with new Respect
Orders banning those prolific offenders from town centres
Expanding police powers to drug test more suspects on arrest, helping direct more drug users into treatment and away from illegal drugs
Creating a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm
In the year ending September 2024, police recorded one million incidents of antisocial behaviour. In the same period, they recorded over 490,000 shop theft offences, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous 12-month period.
Instances of theft from a person increased by 22 per cent, while there were also over 55,000 recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument.
Figures from the 2024 ACS Crime Report show that in the convenience sector alone, retailers recorded 5.6 million incidents of shop theft, highlighting a significant disconnect between the number of crimes that take place and the number that end up being recorded by the police.
The Association of Convenience Stores has welcomed the publication of the Crime and Policing Bill, setting out a wide range of measures aimed at empowering police forces and tackling crimes like shop theft and anti-social behaviour.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said, “We strongly welcome the introduction of the Crime and Policing Bill, which we hope will send a clear message that shop theft and assaults on retailers will be taken seriously by both the police and the justice system.
"People running and working in shops deserve to be treated with respect, and we believe this Bill takes important steps toward that goal.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP said: “This flagship Crime and Policing Bill is at the heart of our mission for safer streets and this government’s Plan for Change.
"For too long communities have had to put up with rising town centre and street crime, and persistent antisocial behaviour, while neighbourhood police have been cut.
"And for years too little has been done to tackle the most serious violence of all including knife crime and violence against women and children.
"That is why the new Crime and Policing Bill is about taking back our streets and town centres, restoring respect for law and order, and giving the police and local communities the support and tools they need to tackle local crime.”
ACS will be launching its 2025 Crime Report on 12th March 2025 at the Safe and Responsible Retailing Conference in Birmingham, outlining the current scale of theft, abuse and other crimes committed against the convenience sector.
The record low consumer confidence, as revealed in the latest industry data, will create significant challenges for independent retailers in the coming months, leading retailers' body has warned.
The latest BRC Consumer Sentiment Monitor for February 2025 shows a concerning decline in consumer outlook, with pessimism in the economy continuing to increase and rising to a record high.
UK confidence has dropped nearly 40 points since July 2024 while consumer outlook towards the UK economy over the next three months has reached its lowest level (-4pp), continuing its decline since October.
Independent retailers body Bira warns that these figures represent a concerning trend for high street retailers.
Commenting on the BRC figures, Jeff Moody, Commercial Director for Bira, said, "The latest BRC Consumer Sentiment Monitor paints a worrying picture for independent retailers.
"These figures align with what our members are telling us - over 57 per cent of independent retailers surveyed by Bira reported feeling somewhat or highly unconfident about business prospects for the remainder of Q1 2025, with 56% expressing the same lack of confidence for the rest of the year.
"With consumers actively looking to reduce spending and seeking out cheaper alternatives, independent retailers face significant headwinds.
"This situation is exacerbated by the upcoming cost increases set to take effect from April, including higher National Insurance contributions, National Minimum Wage rises, and Business Rates increases.
"We're particularly concerned about the shift in consumer spending towards essentials only, with many planning to purchase fewer items from both physical and online stores.
"The slight uptick in those expecting to use foodbanks is a troubling indicator of the financial pressure many households are facing.
"Independent retailers will need to focus on their unique value proposition during these challenging times while we continue to advocate for policy measures that support both consumers and the independent retail sector."
Bira has been at the forefront of championing the cause of independent traders and shopkeepers across Britain.
Its campaigns cover a wide spectrum of issues such as rising tide of retail crime, advocating for changes in legislation that promote fairness and flexibility, fairer business rates, regulatory burden and £1 billion damages claim against Amazon by UK retailers.