Spotlight on Corruption went to the First Tier Tribunal in a bid to get court approval for publication of the full details of any businesses that used covid loans. The organisation argued that full transparency would help to deal with the high levels of fraud associated with the loans, but the court rejected the appeal.

The bounce back loan scheme, for example, was introduced in May 2020 and was designed to be simple to use. Critically the government made changes to the standard banking procedures for loan applications and approvals to make it easier and quicker for small businesses to access urgently needed finance.