• It is estimated that over 420,000 small business owners in the UK are acting as personal guarantors for business loans and could be facing the risk of losing their home due to the impact of Covid-19.  

• The number of small business owners applying for insurance to protect their personal assets if their business fails, has jumped 84% from the first week of February and the volume of applications over the whole month have almost doubled compared to February 2019. 

When faced with the prospect of signing a personal guarantee, it’s important that you know all the potential implications should the bank or financial lender look to enforce that guarantee against you, such as in cases of insolvency through liquidation or administration.

Size of personal guarantees rises 32%

Budget must help small businesses old and new. Purbeck Insurance Services, the provider of personal guarantee insurance has revealed a trend in the owners of small businesses established in the height of the financial crash in 2007-2008 who are now having to put their personal assets on the line to secure finance for their business.

46% never switch off from work

8 out of 10 small business chiefs come clean when they put the home on the line

Money worries can be the biggest cause of relationship woes but recent research by Purbeck Insurance Services, the provider of Personal Guarantee Insurance has found that most small business owners do the right thing and come clean to their partner when they take the big step of putting the family home on the line for their business.  8 out of 10 small business owners[i] have informed their partner about a personal guarantee they have signed for new business finance. 

• Uncertainties about the economic outlook in 2019, including those related to Brexit, meant UK businesses deferred spending and investment until they had more clarity about the future trading environment. Will firms see more cause for optimism in 2020?

Are you one of the millions of small business owners who have secured a loan by signing a personal guarantee without realising the implications?

Adding Personal Guarantee Insurance to the mix of small business services

Accountants are on the front line when it comes to understanding the financial pressures facing the UK’s small businesses.  Late payment, managing cashflow, the Brexit deadlock are all making business harder for the directors and owners of SMEs and it’s often access to finance that determines a business’s fate, particularly in the early years.