Wholesale and retail businesses with group turnover of up to £54m can now get loans under the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme, up from a limit of £45m.
The bank said close to 2,100 more businesses in the sector could benefit, based on current lending to the sector. The new rules took effect at the start of November, and lenders will offer facilities as they adopt them.
How the scheme works
- Accredited lenders offer term loans, overdrafts, asset finance, invoice finance and asset-based lending.
- Facilities are generally up to £2m per business group.
- The government gives the lender a 70 per cent guarantee. The borrower remains 100 per cent liable for the debt.
- From November, some lenders may offer repayment terms of up to 10 years on term loans and asset finance of up to £1.1m (£550,000 in Northern Ireland).
Lending to the sector so far
The scheme has provided £662.4m of finance to 4,302 wholesale and retail businesses since August 2022, more than 15 per cent of all its lending, according to figures as at 12 October 2026.
In July the government announced a £6.5bn uplift to the scheme over four years, which it estimates will help 33,000 businesses.
Reinald de Monchy, chief banking officer at the British Business Bank, said the broader rules and the extra funding mean tens of thousands more smaller businesses can access finance. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he fully backed the decision.
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