The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has spent £377m over the last nine months to keep British Steel’s Scunthorpe site in operation.

Two blast furnaces are used on the site, and no end date for the intervention has been set - a new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) found.

Jingye, the owner of British Steel, had been in talks regarding transitioning to electric arc furnaces between 2022 and 2025. However, they announced the site was losing £700k a day in March 2025 and was considering the closure of the plants.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO said: “DBT was able to act quickly to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe furnaces from closure, avoiding heavy job losses and serious impacts on major UK infrastructure and construction projects.

“However, the trade-off is the significant cost of maintaining operations, and uncertainty over how long this will continue.

“DBT should learn from this experience to be better prepared for future interventions.”

In April 2025 DBT intervened but has so far spent £15m on advisors and £359m on operating activities.

At the current rate, the figure is set to reach £615m by June 2026.

There is currently no repayment schedule in place, and it is not apparent that British Steel will be able to repay the loan.