AT LAST! Chancellor unlocks billions for small firms

12,000 more businesses to get finance every year: Small businesses across the UK are finally getting the break they’ve been begging for.

The Chancellor has announced a massive overhaul of small business finance, unlocking billions in lending, backing innovative firms, boosting community lenders and giving exporters a fighting chance. After years of being told “computer says no”, tens of thousands of small firms will now get the cash they need to grow, hire and invest.

This is the biggest reform to small business finance in years and lands just ahead of Reeves’ Mansion House speech tonight (14th July).

GROWTH GUARANTEE SCHEME DOUBLED

The centrepiece is a huge expansion of the Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS), the government‑backed programme that gives banks a 70% guarantee on loans up to £2m.

Since 2022, it’s already delivered:

• £3.7bn in SME finance

• £2.5bn of that outside London and the Southeast

• Every £1 of government support unlocks £10 of lending

What’s changing?

• Scheme expands to support £3.35bn of business lending a year

• Loan terms are extended from 6 years to 10 years

• Maximum eligible turnover is raised from £45m to £54m

• By 2028/29, 20,000 businesses a year will be supported up from 8,000

• That’s 12,000 extra businesses getting finance annually, a 150% increase

The Chancellor said: “Small businesses are the backbone of the economy. For too long they’ve heard ‘no’. Today’s reforms unleash their potential.”

£500 MILLION FOR INNOVATION

The British Business Bank is also pumping £500m into innovative small businesses through its ENABLE Guarantee programme.

This is aimed at firms with intellectual property instead of physical assets like:

• creative industries

• life sciences

• AI and tech

• high‑growth scale‑ups

These businesses often struggle to borrow because they don’t own buildings or machinery. Now they’ll finally get the backing they need to commercialise ideas and scale.