The British Business Bank has reached the landmark milestone of more than £368m in lending to the manufacturing sector through its Growth Guarantee Scheme. In total, the scheme has delivered more than £2.5bn in lending to smaller businesses across the UK since its launch in July 2024.
Over 1,900 smaller businesses in the UK’s manufacturing sector have benefitted from lending through the Growth Guarantee Scheme, which is designed to support access to finance for businesses as they look to invest, grow and create jobs.
Today’s milestone follows the Government’s recent announcement of a new £4bn initiative, British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital, which will be invested through the Bank’s existing capabilities across the eight growth-driving sectors of the Industrial Strategy, which includes manufacturing.
The Growth Guarantee Scheme has supported over 20 different business sectors across the UK, including over £440m to construction and real estate, more than £366m to wholesale and retail, and £200m to professional services firms.
Of the £2.5bn total, over £630m (27%) of lending has been provided to companies under five years old, underlining the critical role of the Bank in driving growth for start-up and scale-up businesses. In addition, 16% of this total was also provided to the manufacturing sector as well.
69% of lending through the scheme has reached businesses outside of London and the South East. The North West, West Midlands, East of England and Yorkshire & The Humber regions have each received more than £200m in lending through the scheme.
The Growth Guarantee Scheme launched on 1 July 2024, with a wide range of products supported by a broad variety of accredited lenders, including term loans, overdrafts, asset finance, invoice finance and asset-based lending.
The scheme can support facility sizes of up to £2m[1] and provides the lender with a 70% government-backed guarantee. Businesses can use the finance for any legitimate purpose, including managing cashflow and investment, however, businesses must be able to afford to take out additional debt finance for these purposes and the borrower always remains 100% liable for the debt.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said: “The Growth Guarantee Scheme has made a huge impact on our regional economies, helping smaller businesses across the UK to invest and grow, creating jobs and putting more money in people’s pockets.
“The British Business Bank’s mission to support the financing needs of smaller businesses is vital to our Plan for Change growth mission which is why we increased its firepower by two-thirds at the Spending Review”.
Gareth Thomas, Minister for Small Business, said: “As part of our Plan for Change we are committed to breaking down the barriers SMEs face when starting and scaling up, to create jobs and further boost the economy.
“This is an important milestone for the Growth Guarantee Scheme which plays a key role in helping us achieve this, by providing vital access to finance for smaller businesses right across the UK.”
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