British Business Bank is allocated more than £4.5bn as part of the government’s ‘Backing Your Business’ small business plan
The Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade has announced that more than £4.5bn is being allocated to the British Business Bank, as part of the Government’s ‘Backing your Business’ small business plan.
This strengthens four of the Bank’s key initiatives for smaller businesses and the measures provide greater certainty and more capacity to help support established and new businesses in accessing the finance they need to grow and thrive.
Four existing Bank initiatives are being extended or expanded to provide further support for smaller businesses:
- The Bank’s flagship Growth Guarantee Scheme, established in August 2022, has been extended through the Spending Review period to 5 April 2030. This puts the scheme on a long-term footing and gives finance providers and smaller businesses certainty about its future. Delivered through around 50 accredited lenders, as at 30 June 2025, the Growth Guarantee Scheme has so far enabled over £2.6bn of finance through 16,082 facilities.
- The Start Up Loans programme has been expanded and will provide more than £1bn of additional lending to entrepreneurs. The programme is being scaled up to provide 69,000 loans over the Spending Review period, with an expected increase in average loan size from £12,000 to £15,000. Based on internal estimates, the expansion of the programme could contribute approximately £1.3bn in additional economic output, generate an additional £3.1bn of turnover and create an additional 12,600 jobs over the life of the finance.
- The capacity of the ENABLE Guarantees programme has been increased from £2bn to £5bn, an uplift of £3bn. The increased capacity will enable the Bank to support more finance providers to scale their support to smaller businesses, increasing the supply of finance and supporting the growth of a more diverse smaller business finance market.
- The Bank’s Regional Angels Programme has been allocated an additional £340m over the Spending Review period, a 30% uplift, to improve access to early-stage equity. This expansion could benefit around 800 smaller businesses across the UK’s Nations and regions, with an estimated boost to economic output (GVA) of £2.9bn, and an additional 10,500 jobs over the life of the investments.
These measures, and others previously announced, form part of the government’s 2025 Spending Review, under which the British Business Bank’s total financial capacity will increase to £25.6bn from April 2026 which will enable a two-thirds increase in investments to around £2.5bn each year.
Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank said: “We welcome today’s announcement of the central role the British Business Bank will play in the government’s plan for small businesses. This will provide essential additional capacity and certainty for these key debt and equity funding programmes to support everyday businesses and the start-up economy.
“We look forward to supporting even more smaller businesses in reaching their full potential, while generating further economic growth, jobs and prosperity across the UK’s Nations and regions.”
Louise McCoy, managing director, Start Up Loans Products, British Business Bank said: “We are delighted that the government is backing the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme with more capital to provide up to 69,000 loans over the Spending Review period. Increased finance for would-be entrepreneurs to start up and grow a business is vital in helping to support growth and additional employment across the UK’s Nations and regions.”
Measures previously announced as part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy include:
- A new £4bn British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative, invested through the Bank’s existing capabilities across the eight growth-driving sectors, which will include more flexible and customised approaches to the market to tailor support to the needs of each sector.
Also confirmed as part of the Spending Review were reforms to the British Business Bank’s governance and financial arrangements which will be implemented by the end of this financial year.
These will place the Bank in a position to successfully deliver the increased level of investment activity and will mean the Bank has a newly permanent and more fungible capital base, with greater flexibility to re-invest returns over the long term to increase growth and prosperity across the UK.