It can. Under the Growth Guarantee Scheme, a lender may ask for a personal guarantee on a facility of any size if that's its normal practice. One thing the scheme rules out: a lender can't take your main home as security.
Personal guarantees under GGS
- Allowed at any facility size, at the lender's discretion.
- Never secured on your main home. Your principal private residence can't be taken as security under the scheme.
- Other security is possible, such as a charge over business assets.
The government guarantee doesn't protect you
The 70% guarantee protects the lender, not you or any guarantor. If the business can't repay:
- the lender recovers what it can from the business, including any security
- it can call on any personal guarantee, up to its limit
- only then does it claim on the government guarantee for part of its remaining loss
Your business stays liable for the whole debt throughout.
Before you sign a personal guarantee
Check how much it covers, whether it's capped, and what would trigger it. Get independent legal advice. See Will I have to give a personal guarantee? for how personal guarantees work on growth lending generally.
Last reviewed: 8 October 2026