The British Business Bank has launched the Growth Guarantee Scheme on the 1st July.  This is designed to support access to finance for UK smaller businesses as they look to invest and grow. The Growth Guarantee Scheme launched with accredited lenders on 1 July 2024, with a wide range of products supported by different lenders, including term loans, overdrafts, asset finance, invoice finance and asset-based lending.

The Growth Guarantee Scheme can generally support facility sizes of up to £2m and provides the lender with a 70% government-backed guarantee.

Businesses can use the finance for any legitimate business purpose – including managing cashflow and investment. However, businesses must be able to afford to take out additional debt finance for these purposes.

The British Business Bank administers the scheme on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

The key criteria for access to the loans are: 

• Turnover under £45 million and less than 250 employees.
• Loans for assets from £1,000
• Term loans from £25,001 to £2 million.  Standard credit worthiness checks will apply.
• At least 50% of sales in the UK.
• All decisions are made by the lender, not the British Business Bank and include setting interest rate, length of the loan term and all other aspects of the loan.

This is the list of lenders who are actively supporting the Scheme.

As with any loan, you will need the following when applying:

• A business plan
• A Cash flow forecast - to cover the loan repayment period
• Bank details and other supporting information
• Details of any assets that you wish to buy

Our Business Navigators can guide you through the preparation, just contact us through the Growth Hub email link