British Business Bank supports £9.4 billion of finance for smaller business

The British Business Bank has supported £9.4 billion of finance for small businesses in the 2025/26 financial year  – £1.3 billion was public funding, £4.3 billion was private capital crowded in by the Bank, and £3.7 billion came through lending the Bank guaranteed.

The Bank’s annual Impact Report revealed it was able to support 30,000 businesses that had not previously received Bank-supported funding before, with a further 8,000 receiving follow-on funding.

Louis Taylor, CEO of the British Business Bank said:

“In 2025/26 the British Business Bank stepped up both the size and reach of its investments and deepened its support to strengthen the UK’s banking and alternative finance landscape for smaller businesses.

“The Bank has returned a pre-tax profit of £426m this year, a 3x increase on last year’s £144m profit. Our activities in 2025/26 are expected to produce an impact of 39,000 additional jobs and £8.8bn of gross value added over the life of the finance.

“With increased capacity for new funded commitments of £2.5bn a year, alongside issuing £2.1bn annually in guarantees, we are building momentum as we continue to invest at record levels and become a more confident, visible presence across the UK’s equity and debt finance markets. This year has started strongly.”

87% of newly-supported businesses were located outside of London, including 3,500 small businesses in the North West of England. The British Business Bank estimates that businesses it has backed could create 3,100 jobs and generate £1.6 billion in turnover, adding £700 million to the North West economy over the lifetime of the finance.

Nationally, activities of the British Business Bank in 2025/26 are expected to create an additional 39,000 jobs, and support a further 340,000 existing roles over the life of finance provided. Finance is also expected to deliver £19.7 billion of additional business turnover, and boost UK economic output by £8.8 billion.

Stephen Welton, Chair, British Business Bank, added:

“The Bank, headquartered in Sheffield, with more than half of its workforce based outside its London office, is embedded in the communities and markets it supports as a champion of smaller businesses. We are making significant progress driving impact across the Nations and regions of the UK, in the last decade delivering over £40bn of GVA and more than 250,000 additional jobs.

“With two clear lines of business, over £25bn in financial capacity and greater flexibility, we are increasing access to finance for thousands of smaller businesses alongside supporting high growth innovative companies with equity investment. At a time when the UK must increase growth in every part of the country the role of the Bank, working closely with key partners on a local basis, is to do just that, targeting by 2030 up to 370,000 new jobs and up to £57bn of additional GVA under our Five-year Strategic Plan. These results show how the Bank is scaling up to deliver that.”