British Enterprise Financial institution spent thousands and thousands on administration consultants
The British Business Bank spent millions of business consultants in Corona year 2020.
The UK government founded the British Business Bank in 2014 with the aim of creating a one-stop-shop development bank for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Sheffield-based development bank provides SMEs across the country with government sponsored finance programs, financial loans and credits, and a range of business advisory services.
To help distressed SMEs in the crisis triggered by Covid-19, the British Business Bank significantly increased its support for smaller businesses in 2020. Compared to previous years, the bank saw an increase in funding for SMEs (through) multiple emergency funds, which are delivering more than £ 30 billion to over 600,000 companies.
As everywhere in the public sector, the British Business Bank turned to consultants to quickly expand its operations. This came at a heavy price – Channel 4 coverage shows the public company (owned by the Department of Corporate, Energy and Industrial Strategy) spent £ 37 million on outside consulting firms.
Much of this expenditure was expected. In June reports revealed that the British Business Bank had hired the Big Four trio of Deloitte, KPMG and PwC to help run emergency loan programs at a cost of £ 20 million in advisory fees. No details were released on where the additional £ 17 million spending was spent.
According to a British Business Bank spokesman, the spending helped critical delivery of billion pound systems and was “good value for the taxpayer.”
Advisors across central government have put together a £ 175 million bill for their work on Covid-19-related response work. The Cabinet Office was one of the top spending agencies, with PwC, EY, Deloitte, the Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company being the biggest beneficiaries.
