Businesses who took out a Bounce Back Loan will now have the option to ‘Pay as You Grow’ (PAYG) which will tailor payments according to their individual circumstances. There is a further option to delay all repayments for a further six months meaning businesses can choose to make no payments on their loans until 18 months after they originally took them out. The option to pause repayments will now be available to all from their first repayment, rather than after six repayments have been made.

PAYG will also enable borrowers to extend the length of their loans from six to ten years (reducing monthly repayments by almost half) and make interest-only payments for six months, in order to tailor their repayment schedule to suit their individual circumstances. This is in addition to the government covering the costs of interest for the first year of the loan.

The government has made clear that lenders are expected to offer PAYG options to all borrowers under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and lenders will begin reaching out to borrowers to provide information on repayment schedules and how to access flexible repayment options.