What is moving in UK business finance, and what it means if you are planning to borrow. Newest first.
UK service businesses had their best month since February in October 2026, with the services PMI up to 52.8, new work rising and the first hiring in…
43 stories so far. For evergreen guides, tools and answers, visit the Knowledge Hub.
The Bank of England raised Bank Rate from 3.75% to 4% on 5 November 2026 by a vote of 8 to 1, as it expects inflation to reach…
Britain lost 977 licensed hospitality venues in the year to September 2026, almost 19 a week, as costs outpaced sales. Lenders…
Yes, a hotel can be refinanced in its first year of trading, but fewer lenders will do it. In November 2026 Pallas Capital…
The UK manufacturing PMI rose to 52.8 in October 2026, a five-month high, with output growing at the fastest pace in 25 months.…
Most business loans to limited companies are not regulated by the FCA. Many specialist lenders are registered with it only for…
Probably. The Bank of England announces its next decision at noon on Thursday 5 November 2026, and a Reuters poll found 54 of…
Loan stacking is taking several short term loans or merchant cash advances on top of each other, so one business repays several…
Yes, in many cases. A previous liquidation does not stop you borrowing through a new company unless you were disqualified as a…
A business loan is usually declined for one of six reasons. The bank statements do not show the repayment is affordable, there…
Yes, often. VAT or PAYE arrears do not close the market, but they narrow it. Most high street banks decline a business that…
The Budget on 28 October 2026 cut the Business Asset Disposal Relief lifetime limit from £1 million to £500,000 for disposals…
The Budget on 28 October 2026 put more public money behind small business lending and investment rather than cutting business…
Yes. A record 738,144 UK businesses were in significant financial distress in the third quarter of 2026, up 1.6% on a year…
Possibly. From 1 April 2027, a shop, pub, restaurant, gym or other retail, hospitality or leisure property in England with a…
Not from April 2028, for now. On 23 October 2026 HM Treasury said it will pause the Companies House requirement for profit and…
In the cases that go furthest, yes. The National Audit Office reported on 23 October 2026 that 8.2 million taxpayers owed HMRC…
Yes. The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) reported on 19 October 2026 that its members provided £110.8 billion of new…
UK inflation rose to 3.5% in September 2026, up from 3.1% in August, the ONS said on 21 October, mainly because petrol and…
The Insolvency Service recorded 1,882 company insolvencies in England and Wales in September 2026, 4% fewer than in August and…
Signing a personal guarantee doesn't affect your credit score on its own. It is a promise to pay if your company can't, not a…
The UK is not in recession. The ONS says real GDP grew 0.7% in the three months to August 2026 and 0.1% in August itself, with…
The Nations and Regions Investment Funds are a £1.6bn British Business Bank programme of regional funds offering smaller loans,…
The Autumn Budget 2026 will be delivered on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Nothing in it is confirmed until the Chancellor speaks,…
UK Finance figures show lending to small and medium-sized businesses is at its highest level since the pandemic. Gross SME…
The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) has published the shortlist for its Commercial Lender Awards…
UK venture capital funds raised a record £5.2 billion ($6.9 billion) in the third quarter of 2026, according to HSBC Innovation…
The Commercial Payments Bill, the government's late payment crackdown, passed its Lords third reading on 20 October 2026 and is…
The Bank of England's Credit Conditions Survey, published on 8 October 2026, found that lenders reduced the availability of…
The UK construction PMI rose to 46.1 in September 2026 from 44.3 in August, the slowest decline in activity for eight months…
Hospitality goes into the 28 October Budget under pressure. The British Beer & Pub Association says 295 pubs closed permanently…
The Insolvency Service recorded 1,946 company insolvencies in England and Wales in August 2026, 1% more than in July and 3%…
The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75% on 17 September 2026, by six votes to three, with three members voting to raise it…
Permanent placements rose for a second month running in September 2026, at the strongest pace in four years, according to the…
Vacancies in adult social care in England fell to around 96,000, their lowest level in a decade, according to the Skills for…
Around 2,000 salon owners and workers have signed an open letter asking for VAT on hair and beauty services to be halved to 10%…
The UK manufacturing PMI rose to 51.9 in September 2026 from 51.7 in August, showing factory activity still growing, with new…
The average price of diesel reached 198.32p a litre on 25 September 2026, just short of the all-time high of 199.09p, according…
UK new car registrations rose 12.1% to 350,518 in September 2026, the strongest September since 2017, according to preliminary…
The share of UK retail spending made online rose to 28.8% in August 2026, up from 28.4% in July, the Office for National…
UK retail sales rose by 1.3% year on year in September 2026, down from 2.3% growth a year earlier, according to the BRC-KPMG…
The second application window for the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) opened on 22 September with £233 million of…
Nearly two thirds of dentists in England (63%) expect to reduce their NHS work after this year's contract changes, and just 1%…
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