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Starting up

How long does a Start Up Loan take? With bizbritain, usually one to two weeks from submission

With bizbritain, most applicants are approved within one to two weeks of submitting a finished application, and funds can land within 24 hours. The part that sets the pace is the paperwork, and myplan cuts the workbook down to about 30 minutes.

Reading time 5 min read
Category Business guides
Written by The bizbritain team
How long does a Start Up Loan take? With bizbritain, most applicants reach approval within one to two weeks of submitting a finished application. Once approved, the money can be in your account within 24 hours. The part that decides your timing is the paperwork, and that is the part we help you get right.

Section 01

How long does a Start Up Loan take?

There are two clocks. The first is how long it takes you to get your documents to an approvable standard. The second is how long the assessment and the payout take once they are in.
The first clock is the one that stretches. Written from a blank page, a business plan and a 12-month cash flow forecast can take days or weeks. With our free myplan tool, the workbook itself usually takes around 30 minutes.
The second clock is short. From submission, approval generally takes one to two weeks, provided you reply promptly to anything your adviser asks for. After approval, funds can be drawn down within 24 hours.
Across the scheme as a whole, the picture is wider. The Start Up Loans Company says an applicant who needs a lot of support with the documents can take two to three months. Most of that gap is preparation time, which is why we built myplan to cut it down.
1 to 2 weeksfrom a finished submission to approval, for most bizbritain applicants
30 minutesto build the plan, the forecast and the survival budget with myplan
24 hoursto draw down the loan once it is approved
90 daysyour credit check and your loan offer each stay valid for this long

Section 02

The five stages, and what each one is for

Every Start Up Loan application runs in the same order. Here is what happens at each step and where the time goes.

  1. Eligibility check and registration

    A few quick questions about you, your business and what the loan is for. Our eligibility check takes about a minute and does not involve a credit search. If a Start Up Loan fits, you register and get access to myplan.

  2. The personal credit check

    The formal application includes a personal credit check. This is a hard search, so it is recorded on your credit file and may affect your credit score. A poor credit record does not automatically rule you out. The check stays valid for 90 days.

  3. Your business plan, forecast and survival budget

    Three documents: a business plan, a 12-month cash flow forecast and a personal survival budget, plus your last three months of personal bank statements. You have up to 90 days for this stage. myplan builds all three by asking you plain questions, and your adviser checks them with you before anything is submitted.

  4. Assessment

    Your bizbritain adviser reviews the finished application and carries out the full assessment against the scheme's three tests: eligibility, affordability and viability. Every approval and every decline gets a second internal review. This is where the one-to-two-week figure comes from.

  5. Offer, final checks and funds

    Approved applications go to our Start Up Loans finance partner, which runs its final checks, issues the loan agreement and provides the funds. The offer stays valid for 90 days. The money is paid into your personal bank account, because a Start Up Loan is a personal loan. You have 14 days to withdraw, starting the day after you receive a copy of the signed agreement, and funds can be drawn down within 24 hours of approval.

Section 03

What slows a Start Up Loan application down?

Three things, and most of them are in your hands.
The documents. An application that arrives with a finished plan and forecast moves straight to assessment. One that starts from a blank page waits for the writing. Preparing the documents can add time, and myplan helps shorten that stage.
Questions. Your adviser or the assessor may ask for more detail on a figure or an assumption. Every round trip adds days.
Replies. We aim to respond to you within five working days at the outside, and usually much sooner. If a request for information sits unanswered for a week, the application waits a week.
Myth 01

“A government-backed loan always takes months”

It can, if you spend weeks writing a plan from scratch and a month waiting on documents. It does not have to. The assessment itself is quick. Arrive with the workbook done and reply to questions the same day, and one to two weeks from submission to approval is the normal outcome.

The slow part is usually preparation, not the decision, and preparation is what myplan cuts down.

Section 04

What to have ready before you apply

You do not need to write any of these before you contact us. myplan builds the first three, and your adviser reviews them with you.
  • A business plan: what you will sell, to whom, and how the business will make money.
  • A 12-month cash flow forecast: the money coming in and going out, month by month.
  • A personal survival budget: your personal income and your monthly living costs.
  • Your last three months of personal bank statements.
  • Your personal bank account details, because the loan is paid to you rather than to a business account.
If you would rather work through the plan by hand, our business plan workbook walks through it section by section. And if you are wondering whether you need a deposit or security, the answer is no.

Section 05

Where bizbritain fits in

We are a Start Up Loans Business Support Partner. The documents, the adviser and the assessment all happen with us, and only the final checks and the funds sit with the finance partner. The speed of your application is largely down to how we work together.
Most of our applicants who submit a finished application are approved within one to two weeks. The fastest can be approved in as little as a week. Timing also depends on any further information the assessment needs and on the finance partner's final checks. The part you control is the paperwork, and that is what myplan is for. It builds the business plan, the survival budget and the 12-month cash flow forecast in one sitting, from plain questions, and it is free for every bizbritain applicant.
If you are ready to start, the first step is applying for a Start Up Loan through our one-minute eligibility check.

This guide is general information, not financial advice. Applications are subject to status, affordability and lender criteria.

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