Support schemes for UK businesses decreased the risk of bankruptcies, but we are not out of the woods yet

Peter Lambert and John Van Reenen use Office for National Statistics (ONS) data to track how UK businesses view their risks of bankruptcy over the next three months. They find that one in eight businesses – covering 1.9 million jobs – are at risk of failure by July 2021. One-third fewer businesses report having “low” or “no” chance of survival today (mid-April 2021), compared to the January 2021 peak. The extensions to COVID business support schemes have helped avert a wave of bankruptcies, but risks remain.