The British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme is being provided with additional capacity to support around £500m of extra lending to smaller UK businesses affected by changes to global tariff rates.
The extra funding, announced by the Chancellor, will help businesses that may need support with cashflow issues resulting from these tariff changes.
Delivered through approximately 50 accredited lenders, the scheme can generally support facility sizes of up to £2m and provides lenders with a 70% Government-backed guarantee.
This enables lenders to support viable smaller businesses with the additional capacity specifically targeted toward those affected by changes to global tariff rates. The Growth Guarantee Scheme has already enabled £2.1bn of finance through 13,447 facilities.
The funding can be used for any legitimate business purpose, including managing cashflow or working capital requirements due to disruption caused by changes to global tariffs.
Key features include a maximum facility amount of generally £2m per business group for borrowers outside the Northern Ireland Protocol (£1m for Protocol borrowers), a wide range of finance products including term loans and overdrafts, and lender discretion in decision-making with standard credit and fraud checks required.
Reinald de Monchy, co-chief banking officer, British Business Bank, said: “The Growth Guarantee Scheme and its predecessors have proven themselves to be an important means of supporting smaller UK businesses over the last forty years.
“The Growth Guarantee Scheme can be used counter-cyclically, enabling smaller businesses to obtain funding during times of uncertainty such as we are experiencing currently.
“It is therefore important and necessary to see additional capacity made available to support smaller UK businesses at this time.”
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government confirmed over £1bn of funding for the British Business Bank to continue its programmes throughout 2025/26.
