On 17 September 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority published the results of its review into whether its own rules make it harder for small businesses to borrow. The headline, repeated in most of the coverage, was reassuring for the regulator: …
Is It Harder to Get a Business Loan in the UK Than in the Rest of Europe or the US?
Founders who have run a business in another country often arrive in the UK with a confident assumption. It is one of the world’s largest financial centres, so finance for a small firm must be plentiful and straightforward. Then they …
Regional and Devolved Business Grants: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (2026 Guide)
The enquiry usually arrives in the same shape. A founder in Dundee, Swansea or Derry has read a UK-wide guide to regional business grants, found a scheme that fits their project perfectly, and spent a weekend on the application, only …
Funding a UK Business on an Innovator Founder Visa: What You Can and Cannot Access
The founders I work with on Innovator Founder visa applications tend to ask about funding twice. The first time is before endorsement, when the question is how much money they need to show. The second is about four months after …
UK Business Funding Benchmarks 2026: Approval Rates, Pricing and Market Size by Product
Almost every funding conversation I have starts with a number the owner has read somewhere. Nine in ten asset finance applications are approved. A fifth of small firms are still paying off pandemic loans. Bank loans cost 10%. When I …
Why UK Bank Loan Applications Are Declined (And What to Do Next)
A business owner who has banked with the same high street bank for eleven years applies for a £250,000 term loan to buy equipment. The business is profitable, the accounts are filed, and the relationship manager was encouraging. Three weeks …
How Long Does Business Funding Take in the UK? Timelines for Every Route
The most expensive sentence in business finance is “we need the money by the end of the month”. By the time an owner says it, the cheap options have already gone. A bank loan cannot be arranged in three weeks, …
Companies House Identity Verification: What Every UK Director Must Do Before the Deadline
I had a conversation in the spring with a founder in Leeds who was unable to complete a funding drawdown. The lender had asked for a clean Companies House record as a condition precedent — standard stuff — and the …
Merchant Cash Advances in the UK: How They Work and What They Really Cost
A restaurant operator asked me last year whether a merchant cash advance at a 1.4 factor rate was expensive. He had been quoted £40,000 in cost on a £100,000 advance and had decided that 40 per cent sounded high but …
EMI Share Options: The New Limits Explained
A founder I spoke with last year had built a business to just over 260 employees and had spent two years telling senior hires that share options were coming. They were not coming. The company had crossed the 250-employee threshold …