England: uncertainty over more than £400m of Covid loans that have not yet been repaid

"There remains a high degree of uncertainty over how much of the loan book (provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help bodies bodies survive the Covid-19 pandemic) will ever be repaid. The Department has been overly optimistic about the future levels of loan repayments and insolvencies," said the Committee of Public Accounts of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament (PAC) in a report published on 02/04/2025.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown forcing cultural and sporting organisations to suspend their activities, the DCMS lent £474m (€568m) to 120 borrowers between 2020 and 2024. "By October 2024, just under half of borrowers had started repaying their loans, paying the Department £41m (€49m) in total, 97% of expected repayments," according to the PAC

£218m in total was lent to 83 sports organisations, 57% (£123.8m/€148m) of which was directed to Premiership Rugby professional clubs. "Three rugby clubs have since become insolvent - London Irish (recipient of an £11.8m/€14.1m loan), Wasps (£14.1m/€16.9m) and Worcester Warriors (£15.7m/€18.8m) …