More than 900 businesses have applied for mortgage holidays at the Cumberland Building Society, which has announced further help for commercial customers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The regional building society said it has already agreed the mortgage holidays for firms in the hospitality, tourism and holiday let sectors, which equates to over £250 million.

It is now deferring and waiving business current account charges as part of a wider package of support.

Business current account customers will have their monthly and transactional fees from January to March 2020 deferred for three months, and monthly fees for April to June 2020 will be waived, although transactional fees will stand.

All customers have been notified and do not need to get in touch for the changes to apply.

The Cumberland specialises in hospitality sector mortgages and it said it believed many more businesses will be looking for financial support in the coming months.

Simon Whitwham, head of commercial for The Cumberland, said: “We were working flat out to try and help the customers as well as providing as much information as possible on our web pages to show where businesses could get support.

“The businesses we speak to are deeply concerned about the impact this is having and how long it might continue.

"The Government is doing a lot to help with small business rate relief, furloughing staff and other measures, but income has been wiped out.”

Squirrel Lodge guest house in Keswick is a Cumberland customer.

Owner Ben Goodman said: “Obviously the lockdown has hit us hard, but the help we’ve received, along with the Government grant for the hospitality industry will keep us afloat.

“We had a follow-up call from Grant Seaton at The Cumberland which was a nice touch and helped us plan how we are going to get through this.”

The Cumberland’s chief executive, Des Moore, said: “One of our top priorities during this crisis is to ensure we are supporting our customers who are facing financial difficulties.

“The business support package we have announced should help provide some breathing space for our customers, and our team will continue to work with them to provide whatever support we can during this unprecedented period.”