More than 800 directors banned for abusing Covid support

Coming off investigations from the Insolvency Service, 831 directors were banned for Covid financial support scheme misconduct, with an average disqualification length of over nine–and–a–half years.  

The Insolvency Service’s chief executive Dean Beale said: “Tackling Bounce Back Loan misconduct is a key priority for the Insolvency Service, and we are determined to use all our available powers to remove rogue company directors from the corporate arena.  

“It is important the Insolvency Service is taking such robust action to clamp down on directors who abused Covid support schemes and took from the public purse during the worst global pandemic for 100 years.  

“We have teams dedicated solely to investigating Bounce Back Loan misconduct that are committed to taking action against those who provided misleading information to receive money they were not entitled to.”  

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme was introduced at the start of the pandemic, helping small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 at a low interest rate.  

Individuals could only use the loans for the economic benefit of their business with enforcement action taking against those who abused the schemes ranged from companies being wound-up in court to criminal convictions, compensation orders and director disqualifications.

In total the Insolvency Service successfully applied to have 1,430 directors banned for abusing such schemes since it started investigating potential financial wrongdoing in this area in 2021.