More than 72,000 businesses sign up as Eat Out To Help Out launches: More than 72,000 businesses have signed up to the government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme, which launches today (Monday, 3 August). Anyone visiting a participating restaurant, cafe or pub on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in August is eligible to receive a half price discount, which will be paid for by the government. The discount, aimed to “keep more money in hardworking families’ pockets”, applies to all food and non-alcoholic drinks, with a maximum limit of £10 per person. However, some operators have decided to remove the limit and cover the additional cost themselves. There is no minimum spend and the 50% discount can be used in combination with other offers and discounts in most cases. The scheme aims to protect 1.8 million jobs in the hospitality industry by encouraging Brits to safely return to local restaurants, cafes and pubs where social distancing rules allow. The government also launched an Eat Out To Help Out restaurant finder, to help people find local businesses that are participating. It already has 3.3 million hits since launching last week. The scheme, which is part of chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £30bn Plan for Jobs, is aimed to kick-start UK’s economic recovery and boost the hospitality sector following the coronavirus crisis. Sunak said: “Our Eat Out To Help Out scheme’s number one aim is to help protect the jobs of 1.8 million chefs, waiters and restaurateurs by boosting demand and getting customers through the door. The industry is a vital ingredient to our economy and it’s been hit hard by coronavirus, so enjoy summer safely by showing your favourite places your support – we’ll pay half.”

Rules on insolvency ‘must be eased to prevent flood of bankruptcies’: Britain should prepare its courts for a flood of bankruptcies in the next few months and needs to liberalise its insolvency system to prevent viable businesses from going bust, a senior American economist and policymaker has warned. Randall Kroszner, who sat on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors during the financial crisis, told The Times policymakers should take a pragmatic approach to corporate insolvency to protect jobs and to preserve as much economic value as possible. He urged politicians to avoid being seduced by false hopes of a swift, V-shaped, recovery. Governments around the world have begun to adapt insolvency laws to try to mitigate against the consequences of an expected surge in business failures. In March, Britain suspended laws on wrongful trading, allowing directors to keep technically insolvent companies open during the pandemic without fear of legal action. Under wrongful trading laws, directors can be sued for failing to wind up a company if it is running out of cash and facing insolvency. Nevertheless, politicians and bankers are braced for a wave of business failures. Companies have borrowed billions of pounds through government-backed loans and economists are warning many will collapse under of unsustainable debts if economic demand does not recover quickly enough. Professor Kroszner, of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, said a relaxation of the insolvency rules could help to protect jobs and economic activity. Professor Kroszner drew on the example of Chapter 11 proceedings in the US, which allow businesses to operate while paying creditors through a restructured payment plan and for directors to continue to run the business. Governments worldwide have borrowed from Chapter 11, but many of the benefits are available only in America.