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Start up · Handbook
Start Up Loan preparation guide
Learn how to reduce avoidable delays, strengthen your application, and improve your approval outcome.
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Free, instant access guides, written by us, for founders like you. Our growing library contains both downloadable PDF handbooks and bite-size articles on a wide range of topics related to funding your business.
The PDF Guides
Downloadable guides by bizbritain.
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Funding · HandbookGuide to funding a UK business
A plain-English guide on how UK businesses raise finance, and how to give yourself the best chance of a yes.
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Start up · HandbookStart Up Loan business plan preparation guide
A preparation guide for the business plan sections of your Start Up Loan application, built around the questions myplan actually asks.
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Start up · HandbookStart Up Loan cash flow forecast preparation guide
How the Start Up Loans cash flow forecast builds itself in myplan, and the sales, pricing and cost figures to prepare.
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Start up · HandbookPersonal survival budget preparation guide
What the personal survival budget is for, the fourteen categories to have figures ready for, and how it sets the salary your business pays you.
Read online
Bite-size guides for the specific question in front of you.
Short articles written by the bizbritain advisory team. Stay up to date with the latest information and guidance for SMEs.
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Can a sole trader get a business loan in 2026?
Many self-employed people assume business finance is only for limited companies. It is not. Here is what a lender actually looks at.
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Buying a business in 2026: what falling insolvencies mean for your timing
UK business insolvencies fell 19% in August. If you have been waiting for a weaker market to hand you a cheaper deal, the numbers have just moved the other way.
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What the Whitbread closures mean if you want to buy a pub
Whitbread closes 261 pub-restaurants this week. Less is settled about the buildings than the coverage suggests, and being ready matters more than watching listings.
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What JLR's £1.7bn cost cut means for the suppliers around it
Jaguar Land Rover is taking £1.7bn out of its cost base over two years. If one buyer is a large share of your sales, these are the checks to run this week.
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Six businesses to build around the UK electric car boom
Battery-electric cars were 29.8% of the UK new car market in August. That creates work for installers, garages and specialists, and here is how owners fund the kit.
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Funding growth in 2026 when most firms are holding back
Only 17% of UK firms plan to raise investment this year, the lowest share since the pandemic. Here is how to weigh funding a move while your competitors wait.
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UK minimum wage 2026: the 5-point payroll audit after the Fair Work Agency crackdown
The Fair Work Agency named 658 employers for minimum wage underpayment on 2 September. Here are the five checks to run on your own payroll, and how to fund the fix if back pay is owed.
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Business loan broker fees: the hidden cost of ‘free’
Business loan broker fees look like the expensive option. But a ‘free’ broker paid by lender commission can cost you more over the life of the loan.
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Working capital for small manufacturers in 2026
UK factory orders are rising again, but the gains are going to bigger firms. Here is how a small manufacturer funds a jump in orders without straining cash.
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