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South East milestone

Press release 28 December 2022

Start Up Loans celebrates £350 million of loans to businesses in Eastern England.

  • Since launching in 2012, Start Up Loans has delivered more than 36,700 loans worth over £352 million, to businesses in the East Midlands, East of England, North East, South East and Yorkshire & The Humber, with the average loan being £9,522
  • Counties across the South East receiving the most funding since 2012 include Kent and Hampshire
  • 12,381 loans drawn down by recipients in Eastern England since 1 April 2020 totalling £154.4 million
  • 44% of the total value of loans in South East delivered since the pandemic began

Start Up Loans, part of the British Business Bank, announces that the programme has delivered more than 36,700 loans worth more than £352 million to businesses in Eastern England. The figures point to the spirit of entrepreneurship across the Eastern counties of the country.

The South East has received over 9,900 loans worth over £100 million since 2012. Of these loans, 3,463 amounting to more than £44 million were drawn down in the region since the pandemic began; this equates to 44% of the total value of loans delivered over the lifetime of the programme.

Impressive figures for entrepreneurship during the pandemic show how people have been helped by Start Up Loans to launch their own businesses when conditions in the job market were difficult.

UK Region

Loans Made

Amount Lent (£)

Average Loan Amount (£)

East Midlands5,59151,242,0299,183
East of England7,07167,735,7629,576
North East5,40149,285,3109,125
South East9,926100,827,37310,117
Yorkshire & The Humber8,71583,724,6889,607
Total36,704352,916,1619,522

Listed in the below chart are the counties throughout the East to receive the most loans since 2012. Top counties across the South East include Kent, which received more than £17 million in funding, and Hampshire which received over £19 million in funding.

East of England Loan Values 2022

Of the total 36,704 loans in Eastern regions, 40% have been to women and 14% to people from Black, Asian and Other Ethnic Minority backgrounds (not including White Minorities). Young people between 18-24 years old have received 14% of the loans in the East since 2012, and 36% of the total loans made to people in the same age bracket nationally since the programme began in 2012.

If we are to unlock economic growth, we need to remove the barriers faced by the UK’s most innovative entrepreneurs when it comes to accessing funding and growing their business. Backed by more than 9,926 loans worth more than £100 million our most dynamic small businesses across the South East have been able to tap into government support to flourish and fast-track their business ideas and innovations to market. Kevin Hollinrake Small Business Minister
It’s a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of the South East that we’re celebrating such a significant milestone, over £350 million pounds, invested across the Eastern regions since 2012. I am particularly proud of the fact that we have been able to support such a huge volume of young aspiring business people and their start up ventures in the East, which represents 30% of the total across the entire of the UK. Steve Conibear UK Network Director, South and East of England UK Network
The business community in the South East is going from strength to strength. As one of the Ambassadors for Start Up Loans, I am grateful to be in a position to inspire and support other aspiring business owners. Having a strong business network and information that is easily accessible, are vital for making that first step into business ownership. The figures show that more and more entrepreneurs are taking the plunge, which is testament to the business community we have here. I would urge anyone thinking about starting their own venture to go for it in the New Year. Chloe Bruce Owner Chloe Bruce Academy, Woking, South East
UK RegionCounty

Loans Made

Amount Lent (£)

Average Loan Amount (£)

Yorkshire and The HumberWest Yorkshire

3,341

32,800,310

9,818

North EastTyne and Wear

2,332

21,466,276

9,205

Yorkshire and The HumberSouth Yorkshire

2,123

21,005,776

9,894

South EastKent

1,924

17,110,402

8,893

East MidlandsNorthamptonshire

834

8,627,399

10,345

East of EnglandEssex

1,899

17,885,556

9,418

South EastHampshire

1,863

19,765,717

10,610

North EastDurham

1,853

16,674,830

8,999

Yorkshire and The HumberNorth Yorkshire

1,699

16,392,876

9,649

East of EnglandHertfordshire

1,544

15,289,634

9,903

East MidlandsNottinghamshire

1,405

13,042,822

9,283

South EastEast Sussex

3,341

11,406,770

8,443

East MidlandsDerbyshire

1,347

11,169,604

8,292

South EastSurrey

1,121

12,327,438

10,997

Yorkshire and The HumberEast Riding of Yorkshire (Former County)

1,108

9,446,025

8,525

East of EnglandNorfolk

1,090

10,143,773

9,306

East MidlandsLeicestershire

1,044

9,974,636

9,554

South EastWest Sussex

970

9,570,716

9,867

South EastBuckinghamshire

947

11,393,731

12,031

East MidlandsLincolnshire

919

8,086,540

8,799

South EastBerkshire (Former County)

901

10,431,917

11,578

East of EnglandBedfordshire

862

88,155,760

9,461

East MidlandsNorthamptonshire

834

8,627,399

10,345

East of EnglandSuffolk

790

7,382,515

9,345

North EastNorth Yorkshire

675

5,761,588

8,5365

East MidlandsDerbyshire

1,347

11,169,604

8,292

South EastOxfordshire

603

7,156,7534

11,869

North EastNorthumberland

541

5,382,616

9,949

Yorkshire and The HumberLincolnshire

444

4,079,702

9,189

South EastIsle of Wight (UA)

246

1,663,930

6,764

East MidlandsRutland (UA)

42

442,029

10,525

Total 

36,704

352,916,161

9,615

Notes to editors

About Start Up Loans

The Start Up Loans programme provides personal loans for business purposes of up to £25,000 at a 6% fixed interest rate per annum and offers free dedicated mentoring and support to each business.

The primary aim of the Start Up Loans programme is to ensure that viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have access to the finance and support they need in order to thrive. A network of Delivery Partner organisations supports applicants in all regions and industries throughout the UK. The Start Up Loans programme is not designed to generate a commercial profit. Capital payments together with the interest are recycled to help meet our customers’ increasing demands for finance.

Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business and recent media press releases are available on the Start Up Loans website.

The funding for the Start Up Loans programme is provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). A development bank wholly government-owned by BEIS, the British Business Bank plc is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.

The British Business Bank makes finance markets for smaller businesses work better, helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.

Key Statistics

  • Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loans scheme has delivered almost 99,800 loans, providing more than £934 million of funding.
  • In the financial year 2021/22, the scheme provided 12,433 loans with a total value of approximately £152.4 million.
  • The economic benefits of the Start Up Loans programme are almost six (5.7) times its economic costs.
  • At Spending Review 2021, the Chancellor announced resources to provide 33,000 Start Up Loans over next three years.

Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these statistics are gross estimates and based on Start Up Loans CRM along with externally commissioned research undertaken by SQW Ltd, with support from BMG Research. Since 2012, 5% of loans went to people formerly unemployed or economically inactive. Some 40% of loan recipients were women and 21% were from Black, Asian and Other Ethnic Minority backgrounds (not including White Minorities).

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