Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the impact of Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) borrowers asking their lenders to restructure or refinance their CBILS debt on those borrowers' credit ratings.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) operates as a delegated scheme and lenders are expected to follow their commercial process when assessing restructure/refinance requests. It is also up to the lender to determine how this would impact a customer’s credit rating in line with their own standard policies.

Following a Government announcement last year, CBILS lenders are able to extend the repayment period for CBILS facilities where this is needed, to a maximum of 10 years. CBILS term extensions are offered at the discretion of lenders, and for forbearance purposes only.