Firstly, on behalf of Barclays, I would like to once again sincerely thank you for all your efforts so far in 2020 – a year that is moving quickly but is one that I’m sure none of us will ever forget!

Reflecting back to late July, we experienced what can be described as a mini-boom within the market as we saw the loosening of lockdown restrictions. Whilst it was great to see demand return so quickly, this did present a challenge as we needed to ensure we continued to effectively manage capacity so you and your clients receive a consistent level of service.

As in March, when lockdown came into effect, we took the decision to introduce a temporary case booking limit as a short term measure of controlling volumes. Then, throughout August, we made several tweaks to our products as and when we felt we needed to re-address the balance.

I’m pleased to confirm that following this period, we are now back assessing applications within four working days and as a direct result, we have been able to increase the case booking limit within our systems. We seldom reached the daily case limits before 4pm during the summer but you can now have confidence that you will be able to secure a booking for your clients at any part of the day.

We could not have achieved this without your support so once again, thank you for all that you are doing.

Moving forward, we expect September to be just as busy, if not busier, so please be advised we are currently reviewing our offering to ensure we remain best placed to serve the needs of you and your clients with both products and service.

You can expect more changes to be communicated very soon but for today, I wanted to share this update as well as thank you for your ongoing support.