Construction companies have been among the main beneficiaries of the £280billion of taxpayers’ money the government has redistributed to businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said yesterday (18 January).

In addition to furlough payments, the self-employment income support scheme and business grants, the sum includes more than £62billion in Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Business Bounce Back loans.

More than 1.4million loans have been made, and the figures show that the retail and construction sectors in all regions of the UK have benefitted the most.

The Chancellor said: “Throughout this crisis we have provided more than £280billion of support to protect jobs and livelihoods up and down the country.

“We are committed to continuing to ensure jobs are protected and opportunity is created.”

“While there are still tough times ahead, we will continue to offer all the support we can to protect jobs and keep businesses afloat so we can look to not only restart our economy, but build back better from the pandemic.”

At the start of winter, the Chancellor announced that more than a million businesses who took out a Bounce Back Loan will now receive further protection from the Covid crisis through flexible repayments under the new Pay as You Grow system, which gives businesses more time to repay.

Since then, the government has extended the loans schemes until March and given businesses the ability to top-up their loans if they need to.