The Start Up Loans programme deployed £14.6 million to UK business owners in July 2026, up from £12.8 million in the same month last year. That is a rise of 14.2%, and 148 more loans than July 2025.
The total is the part that gets quoted. The trend underneath it is more interesting. Between July 2024 and July 2025, lending through the scheme grew by 7.3%. This year's increase is close to double that rate. Appetite for early-stage funding is not just holding steady, it is picking up speed.
01The growth is not where you might expect
Around 70% of the finance deployed has gone to businesses outside London and the South East.
That figure is worth sitting with if you run a business in the Midlands, the North, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and have quietly assumed that start-up funding is something that happens to other people, somewhere else. The regional split of this scheme says otherwise, and it has said so consistently.
02You can still apply after years of trading
The eligibility rule that catches people out is the trading window, because most people guess it wrong.
A Start Up Loan is not only for businesses that have yet to launch. You can apply if your business has been trading for up to 60 months, which is five years. Plenty of owners rule themselves out at year two on the assumption that they have missed the window, when they have three years left of it.
The full criteria are straightforward:
- You are 18 or over
- You are a current UK resident with the right to work in the UK
- Your business is UK-based, and is either pre-launch or has been trading for less than 60 months
- You have not had a Start Up Loan before
- You pass the scheme's credit check
03What a Start Up Loan actually costs
Start Up Loans are unsecured, so there is no collateral requirement. They run from £500 to £25,000 per founder, and where several co-founders each apply to the same business, that business can raise up to £100,000 in total.
The interest rate is fixed at 7.5% a year, with a representative APR of 7.8%. Terms run from one to five years. There are no arrangement fees and no penalties for repaying early. Approved applicants also get 12 months of free mentoring.
Representative example: £10,000 borrowed over 60 months at 7.8% APR. Monthly repayments of £200.45, total interest of £2,027, total amount repayable £12,027.
04What this means if you have been putting it off
Two things follow from the July figures.
The first is that the scheme is lending more, to more people, and faster than it was a year ago. The second is that a good share of that money is going to businesses well outside the usual funding corridors, and to owners further into their trading history than most people assume qualifies.
If you looked at a Start Up Loan two years ago and decided it was not for you, the version of the scheme you were looking at is not the one lending today.
You can read the eligibility detail and check where you stand on our Start Up Loans page.
05Sources
- Startups Magazine, 11 August 2026, for the July 2026 lending figures and regional split
- British Business Bank, for scheme eligibility, rates and terms
We do not make credit decisions, and we do not offer loans directly. Applications are subject to status, affordability and lender criteria.
