The emergency-era schemes, Bounce Back and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans, are closed. What is actually open now:

Start Up Loans

A government-backed personal loan for starting or growing a business. The terms, from GOV.UK:

• £500 to £25,000
• fixed interest at 7.5% a year
• repay over 1 to 5 years
• no application fee, no early repayment fee
• your business must be UK-based and fully trading for less than 5 years

It is a personal loan, so sole trader or company director, you owe it yourself. The application comes with free mentoring and help writing the business plan, which is the part that gets people through the credit check.

The Growth Guarantee Scheme

The successor to the Recovery Loan Scheme, run by the British Business Bank through accredited lenders. The government guarantees a share of the lending to the lender, which makes banks say yes to businesses they would otherwise decline. The guarantee protects the lender, not you: you still owe every penny.

• Up to £2 million per business group
• term loans, overdrafts, asset finance, invoice finance and asset-based lending
• for UK businesses with turnover up to £45 million, making most of it from trading

You apply to the lender, not the government. The British Business Bank publishes the accredited lender list.

What they will not do

Neither scheme exists to paper over a business that cannot repay. Expect affordability checks, credit checks and questions about your cash flow. If the honest answer is “I need this to survive the month”, the conversation to have is with your existing creditors or an insolvency adviser, not a new lender.

Sources

All pages checked 20 October 2026.

• Apply for a Start Up Loan: https://www.gov.uk/apply-start-up-loan
• Growth Guarantee Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/business-finance-support/growth-guarantee-scheme
• British Business Bank, Growth Guarantee Scheme: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/finance-options/debt-finance/growth-guarantee-scheme

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