Loans & equity
Capital you can apply for
Start Up Loan
Up to £25k @ 6% APR
Personal loan from the British Business Bank for businesses less than 3 years old. Free mentoring included. Average loan size around £15k. Repayable over 1-5 years. You're personally liable.
Apply: startuploans.co.uk
Innovate UK Grants
£25k – multi-million
Sector-specific grant competitions for UK businesses doing genuinely innovative work. Single-firm and consortium calls run year-round. Highly competitive; ~10% success rate but no equity given up.
Browse: iuk.ktn-uk.org/competitions
SEIS & EIS
Up to 50% investor relief
Tax reliefs for investors backing your company. SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) gives investors 50% income tax relief on up to £200k. EIS gives 30% relief on up to £1M. Makes it much easier to raise from angels.
HMRC: gov.uk SEIS/EIS
Tax reliefs
Money you keep in tax
Employment Allowance
£5,000/yr
Reduces your employer's Class 1 NI bill by up to £5,000 a year. Eligible if employer NI bill was under £100k in the previous tax year. Claim via your payroll software with one tick box.
HMRC: gov.uk/claim-employment-allowance
Annual Investment Allowance (AIA)
100% on £1M/yr
You can write off the full cost of qualifying plant, machinery, equipment, vans and IT against profits in the year you buy them — up to £1 million spend per year. Saves Corporation Tax at 19-25%.
HMRC: gov.uk Annual Investment Allowance
R&D Tax Credits
20-27% above-the-line
From April 2024 most SMEs moved to a single merged R&D scheme (RDEC) paying 20% above-the-line. Loss-making R&D-intensive SMEs (R&D > 30% of total spend) can claim the Enhanced Intensive Support (ERIS) at up to 27%. Average claim £55k.
HMRC: gov.uk R&D relief
Patent Box
10% Corp Tax
Drop your Corporation Tax rate to 10% on profits attributable to qualifying UK or European patents (vs the standard 25% rate). Massive for patent-holding companies. Requires careful streaming calculation — use a specialist accountant.
HMRC: gov.uk Patent Box
Creative Industries Tax Reliefs
Up to 53.5% claim back
Film, high-end TV, animation, video games, theatre, orchestral and museum/gallery exhibitions production. Calculated as a payable cash credit. Has saved UK creative companies billions over a decade.
HMRC: gov.uk Creative Tax Reliefs
Customers & contracts
Where to find UK government contracts
Contracts Finder
£12k+ contracts
Free portal listing UK central government contracts over £12,000 and most council/NHS contracts. Set keyword alerts for your sector. UK SMEs won £14.4 billion of public sector contracts in 2023/24.
Portal: contractsfinder.service.gov.uk
Find a Tender
High-value contracts
UK replacement for the EU OJEU. Lists higher-value contracts above £138,760 (services/supplies) or £5,372,609 (works). Use this if you can deliver larger tenders.
Portal: find-tender.service.gov.uk
Crown Commercial Service Frameworks
Pre-approved supplier lists
Get on a CCS framework once and become eligible for hundreds of public sector buyers without re-tendering. Examples: Digital Outcomes, G-Cloud (cloud services), Management Consultancy Marketplace.
Apply: crowncommercial.gov.uk
Training & people
Skills and apprenticeship funding
Help to Grow: Management
90% subsidised
UK government-subsidised 12-week MBA-style course delivered by top UK business schools. SMEs pay just £750 (government pays the rest). Includes 1-2-1 mentoring. Roughly 10,000 SME leaders have completed it.
Apply: helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk
Apprenticeship Levy & incentives
£1,000 per apprentice
£1,000 incentive payment when you hire an apprentice aged 16-18 (or 19-25 with an EHC plan / care leaver). Non-levy employers (under £3M annual wage bill) get 95% of training paid by the government, you pay 5%.
HMRC: gov.uk/take-on-an-apprentice
Skills Bootcamps
Free for employer-led training
Government-funded 12-16 week courses in digital, technical and green skills. Free for adults; employers contribute (10% for SMEs, 30% large) when used to upskill existing staff.
Browse: gov.uk Skills Bootcamps
Local Growth Hub vouchers
£1k – £5k typical
38 Local Growth Hubs across England offer free business advice plus funded vouchers for consultancy, training, productivity improvements and digital adoption. Schemes vary by region; check your hub.
Find yours: lepnetwork.net Local Growth Hubs
Caution — R&D claims companies
HMRC has cracked down hard on inflated and false R&D Tax Credit claims. Many "no win, no fee" R&D firms have been linked to penalties. Use a chartered accountant who specialises in R&D, not a contingent-fee claims company. False claims can trigger backdated penalties of 30-100% of the claim plus interest.