CBILS Loan & Paying Directors,What happens if Co goes bust??

Barney2201

Free Member
Jun 3, 2007
66
1
49
Buckinghamshire
I will try and keep this breif...

We own a successful events business, turnover circa £1.5 million and a 25% net.


Our business is based around designing and producing events, we have virtually no asset value and only two full time employees (plus two directors, husband and wife).


We employee freelancers on a job by job basis, this has allowed us to contract our business to the bare minimum, but….


As of today we have cash in hand, as with most businesses we are owed a huge amount of money which is being drip fed, we are in tern drip feeding our suppliers (we paid all our freelancers the first day of lock down).


We can easily survive the summer but our industry relies on crowds and public gatherings, no doubt the last restriction to be lifted.


My question is.. If we apply for the CBILS loan and use the money to pay the directors salary and our staff wages and the restart is so delayed we eventually run out of cash early next year, what happens if we liquidate the company?


The directors are currently paid by minimum payroll and maximum dividends, we would switch the directors to a salaried position.


Are the banks wanting personal guarantees on the CBILS loans? We currently have no borrowing within the business so this would be the first financing we have ever had….
 

Adam93

Free Member
Jan 18, 2018
417
96
The lender will want to know what you are using the loan for. If you say ‘paying wages’ I doubt you’ll be successful. If you lie, that would be fraud.

Some lenders have asked for personal guarantees for the 20% which isn’t government backed. In a normal world, a bank would never lend to a business that has no income without a personal guarantee.

regarding the employees wages, can’t you just furlough them or do they not qualify?
 
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Barney2201

Free Member
Jun 3, 2007
66
1
49
Buckinghamshire
Thanks for the info

We have furloughed both members of staff, but still paying a hefty top up on our head designers monthly payment.

Seems crazy the CBILS scheme cannot be used to pay directors salaries, without directors there is no company to come back to.

Seems we should just burn the cash in the business as salary, defer VAT / Corp tax payments, pay our suppliers and when the money runs out declare the business bust and rise from the ashes with a new business. The only people who will seriously loose out will be the goverement..... Not syaing this is our action plan but i'm sure if the CBILS scheme cannot be used to pay directors salaries there will be many more company owners looking at similar solutions...
 
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Mr D

Free Member
Feb 12, 2017
28,915
3,627
Stirling
Thanks for the info

We have furloughed both members of staff, but still paying a hefty top up on our head designers monthly payment.

Seems crazy the CBILS scheme cannot be used to pay directors salaries, without directors there is no company to come back to.

Seems we should just burn the cash in the business as salary, defer VAT / Corp tax payments, pay our suppliers and when the money runs out declare the business bust and rise from the ashes with a new business. The only people who will seriously loose out will be the goverement..... Not syaing this is our action plan but i'm sure if the CBILS scheme cannot be used to pay directors salaries there will be many more company owners looking at similar solutions...

Just don't get caught preferring one creditor over another.
 
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Jun 26, 2017
2,713
1,012
Thanks for the info

We have furloughed both members of staff, but still paying a hefty top up on our head designers monthly payment.

Seems crazy the CBILS scheme cannot be used to pay directors salaries, without directors there is no company to come back to.

Seems we should just burn the cash in the business as salary, defer VAT / Corp tax payments, pay our suppliers and when the money runs out declare the business bust and rise from the ashes with a new business. The only people who will seriously loose out will be the goverement..... Not syaing this is our action plan but i'm sure if the CBILS scheme cannot be used to pay directors salaries there will be many more company owners looking at similar solutions...

Personally I don’t think there will be too much of an issue using the cash to pay salaries in general. If you got £100,000 and immediately paid it out to a director then that would be a problem, but your wage bill is likely to be your biggest expense.

The scheme is a business interruption loan, and so in theory should be replacing lost revenue. Don’t get hung up on whether you can pay directors salaries with the money but more look at your general running costs, your regular expenses (which includes wages) and make sure all of that is covered, suppliers paid etc.

A word of caution though - it is a loan and not a grant, so don’t burden yourself with more than you can handle so that when you come out the other side and revenue resumes, there’s no profit in the business any more.

Also, statistically you’re highly unlikely to get accepted anyway. Nothing personal, just that less than 1% of applicants are being accepted.
 
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