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Guide

Are there start-up business grants in the UK?

Updated

The honest answer disappoints people, which is exactly why so many pages avoid giving it. There is no national start-up grant, and knowing that saves months.

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Question 1

Where is the business based?

Business support is partly devolved. UK-wide tax reliefs and Innovate UK competitions apply everywhere, but the grant programmes and the advice services differ by nation.

What actually exists nationally

The main national scheme for a new business is the government-backed Start Up Loan, and gov.uk describes it plainly: Unlike a business loan, this is an unsecured personal loan. The terms as published on 15 August 2026 are £500 to £25,000, a fixed interest rate of 7.5% per year, repayment over 1 to 5 years, no application fee and no early repayment fee, plus free support writing the business plan and up to 12 months of free mentoring for successful applicants (gov.uk).

  • You must live in the UK and be 18 or over.
  • You must have, or plan to start, a UK-based business that has been fully trading for less than 5 years.
  • You will need to pass a credit check, and because it is a personal loan you are personally liable for it.

Where the real grants live

Genuine start-up grants in the UK are local and sector-specific: council schemes, combined authority programmes, university and incubator funds, and industry bodies. They are too numerous and too changeable to list on any static page, which is why two official finders are worth more than any article. The Department for Business and Trade's finance and support finder listed 114 schemes on 15 August 2026 and lets you filter to grant support, to not-yet-trading or start-up stage, to your industry and to your region in about four clicks. The Cabinet Office's Find a grant service covers government grant funding for SMEs, charities and individuals (gov.uk guidance).

How to tell a real scheme from a stale listing

  • Open the funder's own page, not the aggregator. If the funder does not have a page for it, it is not a scheme.
  • Look for an application deadline or an explicit open status. A page with neither has usually been abandoned.
  • Check the last-updated date on the funder's page. Business support programmes are routinely left up for years after they close.
  • Beware anything asking for a fee to access grant funding. Government grant services are free to search and free to apply to.

If the business does genuine research and development, stop and read how R&D relief and grants interact before applying for either. For a lot of early-stage technical businesses the tax relief is worth more than any grant they would win, and since April 2024 taking a grant no longer restricts the claim.

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Questions, answered directly

Is there a government grant to start a business in the UK?

Not as a general national scheme. The main national route is the Start Up Loan, which gov.uk describes as an unsecured personal loan of £500 to £25,000 at a fixed 7.5% a year. Real start-up grants exist but are local or sector-specific, and are best found through the official DBT finance and support finder and the Cabinet Office Find a grant service.

How much is a Start Up Loan?

£500 to £25,000, at a fixed interest rate of 7.5% per year, repayable over 1 to 5 years with no application fee and no early repayment fee. The business must have been fully trading for less than 5 years and you must pass a credit check.

Sources

This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:

  • The Business Relief Rates carries 5 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages, from 0.50 to 100 percent, read 23 October 2026.
  • The median published figure in the Grant Award Outcomes is 21 percent across 4 figures from 2 sources' own pages (range 19 to 27 percent), read 11 October 2026.
  • The Regional Funder Coverage carries 5 published figures read from 5 sources' own pages, from 5,000 to 40,000 GBP, read 11 October 2026.
  • The UK Business Grant Register carries 13 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages, from 10,000 to 28,000,000 GBP, read 23 October 2026.
  1. gov.uk, Finance and support for your business (Department for Business and Trade)
  2. Cabinet Office, Find a grant
  3. gov.uk, Find government grants
  4. Innovate UK, Innovation Funding Service competition search
  5. HMRC, R&D tax relief: the merged R&D expenditure credit scheme and enhanced R&D intensive support
  6. HMRC, Check what Research and Development (R&D) costs you can claim
  7. HMRC, Check if you can claim R&D tax relief
  8. gov.uk, Get funding for apprenticeship training
  9. gov.uk, Apply for a Start Up Loan for your business
  10. Made Smarter, investing in the digital tools
  11. Business.gov.uk, free local support for your business
  12. Business Wales
  13. Find Business Support, Scotland
  14. Invest Northern Ireland

Check what you qualify for before you write anything

Nation, purpose, R&D and size, with every status re-read on 15 August 2026.

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