The Business

How did bounce-back loans end up in the hands of fraudsters? And can the government ever recover the lost funds?

When the Covid bounce-back loan scheme was launched in May 2020, it was intended as an emergency lifeline for small and medium-sized British businesses. Issuing 1.2 million loans totalling £47 billion, it was the largest of the Covid-related business loan initiatives.

While it was rolled out rapidly, it is now embroiled in scandal. The countless cases of fraudulent activity cost billions of taxpayers’ money.

In this episode of The Business, James Hurley, The Times assistant business editor, and George Greenwood, The Times investigative reporter, join Hannah Prevett to lift the lid on the bounce-back loans scandal.

George and James first broke the bounce-back loans story in 2021, and continue to track the ongoing fallout: from disqualified company directors to criminal convictions.

Could these pricey mistakes have been avoided? And what lessons could be learnt?

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Guests:
George Greenwood, The Times investigative reporter
James Hurley, The Times assistant business editor

Presenter:
Hannah Prevett, The Sunday Times associate business editor

Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producers: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy
Video Producer: Superllama
Image: Getty
Get in touch: thebusiness@thetimes.com

More from The Times
Government ‘dangerously flat-footed’ about recovering Covid fraud
Starling takes a £28m hit from Covid bounce back loans
Suitcases of Covid loan cash seized at UK’s borders

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What does Chancellor John Healey's 2026 budget mean for business?

In this episode of The Business, Dominic O’Connell is joined by Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, and Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, to unpack an Autumn Budget designed to give British people ‘breathing room’.

At the despach box the chancellor said: "Too many people feel this country isn't working well for them, and in particular, households and businesses face challenges from rising energy costs due directly to the conflict in the Middle East. In the face of that, what matters is how we respond as a government. And my choice in the budget today is to give families and businesses some breathing space now, and to begin the radical reform of energy to reduce bills in the future."

They examine how the Chancellor plans to balance short-term household relief with long-term economic growth. We break down the cash ISA U-turn, capital gains tax adjustments, and the new Founders’ Relief, dissecting the practical realities for British business owners and leaders.

They also explore the devolution of business rates, and what this Autumn Budget means for high streets facing mounting costs.

The Business is sponsored by PwC

Guest:
Shevaun Haviland, Director General of British Chambers of Commerce
Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates
Presenter:
Dominic O’Connell, Times columnist and Times Radio business correspondent

Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy
Image: Getty
Get in touch: thebusiness@thetimes.com

More from The Times
Budget 2026 key points: a summary of the highlights
What the budget means for you

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Diesel Crisis: Is UK facing a rationing threat?
Taylor Wimpey: Can Labour fix the UK’s broken housing market?
Can Labour really reindustrialise Britain?

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did Hawksmoor grow from a single Shoreditch steakhouse into a global brand, and can UK hospitality survive rising tax burdens?

In this episode of The Business, Hawksmoor co-founder and Chief Executive Will Beckett joins Hannah Prevett at Hawksmoor St Pancras to reflect on what he's learned from 20 years in British business, and what UK hospitality wants from Chancellor John Healey's budget.

He breaks down the harsh financial pressures facing the industry, including how tax changes, rising business rates, and employment legislation impact hospitality margins.

“I know that the hospitality industry would like me to say, ‘big, sweeping change’ - I just think it's unlikely,” he tells the programme. “Anything that is just relieving the tax burden or relieving the pressure slightly, that, in a way that would help smaller independent businesses flourish, I think has to be good news.”

Beckett, who runs the business alongside his co-founder, Creative Director Huw Gott, also discusses scaling the steakhouse chain across London and taking on private equity investment to take the brand to the US with major openings in New York, Chicago, and Boston.

"We've learned about how to pitch Britishness and London. Boston's really well known for lobster rolls, but in Hawksmoor Boston, we do a lobster crumpet.”

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Guest:
Will Beckett, chief executive and co-founder of Hawksmoor

Presenter:
Hannah Prevett, associate business editor of The Sunday Times

Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy
Get in touch: thebusiness@thetimes.com

More from The Times

I was a jack of all trades until I sunk my teeth into Hawksmoor
How a very British steakhouse won over New York

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Will the Chancellor Increase Capital Gains Tax in the Budget?
The Employment Rights Act: A Generational Shift for British Business
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What does it take to become a top football agent in the UK? From negotiating million-pound contracts, to managing player transfers, a football agent holds the power to change the game long before players walk onto the pitch.

In this episode of The Business, we explore the high-stakes world of sports management, where agent fees topped £400 million in the Premier League last year. Jo Tongue, leading football agent and chief executive of Tongue Tied Management, joins Hannah Prevett, associate business editor at The Sunday Times, to take us behind the scenes of commercial deal making in football.

Jo discusses managing players' careers, negotiating commercial deals, and representing some of the biggest names across British football, including the manager of Manchester United, Michael Carrick.
As a board member of Women in Football, Jo also reflects on working in a male-dominated industry and addressing the persistent inequalities facing female sports professionals.

On social media she says abuse "is rife for women, to the point where I think a lot of females just go, ‘I'm just not gonna put anything out there because it's just not worth the stress."

More from the Times:
‘It never occurred to me that I couldn’t succeed in football as a girl’
Michael Carrick hails ‘fresh start’ but one win in seven tells own story

More from the Business
Beyond TV: How Trinny Woodall Built A Beauty Brand
“I was ashamed”: How failure built Castore

Guests:
Jo Tongue, football agent and chief executive of Tongue Tied Management

Presenter:
Hannah Prevett, associate business editor at The Sunday Times

Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy
Video Producer: Super Llama
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With pump prices passing £2 a litre and national reserves dropping, could the diesel crisis force ministers to activate emergency fuel rationing? In this episode of The Business, Dominic O’Connell looks at what current diesel pricing means for the UK economy.

Joined by Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge, and Joe DeLaura, Global Energy Strategist at Rabobank, we examine whether low reserves and refining capacity threaten long-term economic growth. They break down how global supply disruptions, refinery closures, and changing government fiscal policy are squeezing margins across British business.

Crucially, they consider - could rationing truly be a reality in the United Kingdom?

“There's always that possibility because the Trump administration has shown that we will extract our pie from other countries. [The thinking is]: ‘If you don't buy American we'll stop selling you diesel, or maybe we'll do a diesel export ban for 90 days unless you release some of your strategic petroleum reserves, or unless you sell us something, or unless you let us have an aircraft base in your country,’” DeLaura says on the show. “Fortunately, I think the US and the UK have a pretty strong long-standing relationship, but the Administration has tested a lot of those long-standing relationships … it's the fact that we even have to ask this question that really concerns me.”

Thompson, however, said it is a risk, but not likely - though she pointed out that some Asian countries did have to take that path. “I think for that situation to materialise in Europe, there would have to be something else on top of what has already happened … [but] the Trump administration itself might bring that about,” she says on the program. “This administration's first port of call, in a way, in dealing with its supposed allies, is the energy weapon.”

More from the Times:

Get drilling at Rosebank or risk diesel shortages, ministers warned
Trump’s diesel deal with Putin is gift to Russia, says Zelensky

More from the Business
North Sea Oil and Gas: The Future of UK Energy Security
Could the UK Electricity Grid Fail?

Guests:
Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Clare College, Cambridge
Joe DeLaura, Global Energy Strategist at Rabobank

Presenter:
Dominic O’Connell, Times columnist and Times Radio business correspondent

Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producer: Miriam Hall and Emily Leahy
Photo: Getty
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.