Download full report
Our 2025 Impact Report sets out the impact of the British Business Bank’s activity on smaller businesses across the UK’s Nations and regions.
Our impact in 2024/25
Inputs
1.2bn
We deployed £1.2bn of public funding into smaller businesses
Alongside £2.6bn
of lending guaranteed
Boosted with an additional £3.0bn
of private sector capital invested alongside
Outputs
Newly funded 24,000
smaller businesses with follow on funding to 4,000 more
84%
of businesses supported were outside London
17%
supporting deals which accounted for 17% of total UK smaller business equity investment
39%
of our Start Up Loans went to female founders
20%
of our Start Up Loans went to founders from Black, Asian or other Ethnic Minority backgrounds
Outcomes
267,000
existing jobs supported
4.2%
Our 5-year combined commercial and development adjusted rate of return
Up to 37%
of supported businesses used some of their finance to help deliver environmental objectives
Long-term impacts
Creation of 38,000
additional jobs
£18bn
of additional business turnover
£8bn
Equivalent to £8bn of incremental Gross Value Added (GVA)
The Bank has continued to deliver impact across the UK
In 2024/25 the Bank helped around £6.8bn of finance to reach smaller businesses in the UK.
Around £1.2bn of this was deployment of our public funding and this was accompanied by £2.6bn of lending guaranteed and £3.0bn of private sector capital crowded in Read footnote text 1 . Attracting such a large pool of private capital is vital as this allows us to reach a greater number of UK businesses and to ensure they receive the right level of funding.
The £6.8bn total flow of finance benefited around 28,000 UK businesses. This group includes just under 4,000 businesses who were first funded by the Bank before 2024/25 and have secured further funding in the year alongside around 24,000 who were newly supported.
With the UK business population currently estimated at around 5.5m, this means around one in every 200 UK businesses received a flow of finance supported by the Bank in 2024/25 Read footnote text 2 .
These flows of finance can have a transformative impact on the businesses receiving them, enabling investment, funding recruitment and unlocking a whole range of other activities that can stimulate growth.
Earlier in the year, our Power of 10: 10 Year Impact Report analysed growth impacts among the 209,000 businesses funded in our first decade, from 2014/15 to 2023/24.
This group of businesses, including the 4,000 who received further finance this year, are expected to boost UK economic output by £43bn over the lifetime of their finance. The additional impact we expect from the 24,000 businesses newly supported by the Bank in the 2024/25 financial year is the focus of this year’s report.
-
Return to footnote location
1
These figures exclude the Fintech and Structured Capital Solutions elements of the Investment Programme and the ENABLE Build programme. For more details on the coverage of this analysis, please see the methodology section.
-
Return to footnote location
2
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2024/business-population-estimates-for-the-uk-and-regions-2024-statistical-release
We’re excited at the prospect this equity investment presents. We have ambitions to further develop the gamified elements of our learning platform, and to expand our client base in the UK and internationally.
- Jason Davies Chief Technology Officer and Co Founder, Sudo Cyber, Investment Fund for Wales
Around one in every 200 UK businesses received a flow of finance supported by the Bank in 2024/25
Distribution of businesses by Nation and region, 2024/25
The cohort of businesses newly funded in 2024/25 is spread across the UK with 84% of the group based outside of London. This is a larger proportion than the 82% of the UK business population that is based outside of the capital and continues our track record of supporting growth in all parts of the UK. Read footnote text 3
Through funding such a large and broadly spread group of businesses, the Bank is helping to unlock significant benefits for the UK economy. Over the lifetime of their finance, the businesses newly funded in 2024/25 are expected to earn more than £18bn in additional turnover. This figure includes a range of adjustments to strip out turnover that would be expected to be earnt among the 2024/25 business cohort even without our support. Consequently the £18bn boost represents earnings that are additional from an economy-wide perspective.
£18bn of additional turnover is equivalent to £8bn of gross value added (GVA). This GVA figure is the difference between the value of goods and services produced, as reflected in turnover, and the costs of the inputs used to produce them. GVA is important as employee compensation and business profits come from within GVA. Again, this £8bn figure builds in a range of adjustments to strip out GVA that would have been accrued anyway or that displaces existing UK economic activity.
Through helping businesses to grow, we are also benefitting the UK labour market. Among the 24,000 businesses newly funded this year, we estimate that 267,000 existing jobs have been supported. Added to this, we expect 38,000 additional jobs to be created by the businesses newly backed over the lifetime of their finance.
As with the turnover and GVA impacts mentioned above, this figure includes a range of adjustments to strip out job creation that would be expected to occur even without our support. Consequently, the 38,000 jobs we expect to be created represent additional roles from an economy wide perspective. Furthermore, evidence suggests that many of these new roles are likely to be high quality, high productivity and high wage roles. Read footnote text 4 When we look at how these impacts are spread across the UK, we can see just how much value the Bank’s activities unlock in each Nation and region. For example, the boost to GVA expected from the 2024/25 cohort is more than £100m in each and every UK Nation and region.
-
Return to footnote location
3
DBT Business Population Estimates 2024
-
Return to footnote location
4
For example see the interim evaluation of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund: https://www.british-business bank.co.uk/sites/g/files/sovrnj166/files/2023-11/meif-interim-evaluation-report-06-01-2023.pdf?
More than £100m boost to GVA expected in each and every UK Nation and region.
Estimated impacts by Nation and region 2024/25
Source: British Business Bank estimates
| UK Nation or region | Businesses newly supported | Additional turnover (£million) | Additonal GVA (£million) | Jobs supported | Jobs created |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 1,700 | 600 | 200 | 18,600 | 1,200 |
| East of England | 2,200 | 1,700 | 800 | 24,400 | 3,000 |
| London | 3,900 | 7,000 | 3,300 | 43,700 | 15,900 |
| North East | 800 | 4,00 | 200 | 8,200 | 900 |
| North West | 2,900 | 1,600 | 700 | 32,100 | 3,000 |
| Northern Ireland | 600 | 300 | 100 | 5,300 | 1,100 |
| Scotland | 1,500 | 800 | 400 | 16,000 | 1,600 |
| South East | 3,500 | 1,200 | 800 | 38,100 | 3,400 |
| South West | 2,200 | 1,200 | 500 | 23,500 | 2,800 |
| Wales | 900 | 500 | 200 | 10,800 | 900 |
| West Midlands | 2,200 | 800 | 300 | 24,500 | 2,000 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 2,000 | 1,200 | 500 | 21,300 | 2,200 |
Note: Nations and regions impact estimates are derived from UK wide impact estimates. The apportionment is based on programme level data on business location. Turnover, GVA and job creation impacts are over the lifetime of the finance.
Our impact has supported all of the Bank’s strategic objectives.
The Bank’s impact does not just benefit each of the UK Nations and regions, it also advances the Bank’s mission across our four strategic objectives.
In line with our approach to business planning, all Bank activity contributes to sustainable growth while different overlapping combinations of activity contribute to backing innovation, unlocking potential and building the modern, green economy.
Across all four objectives, the last year has seen significant progress made with thousands of businesses using their finance to innovate, benefit the environment, and reach their potential through growth.
Businesses newly supported by strategic objective in 2024/25
Source: British Business Bank estimates Note: In many cases, businesses may have used a small proportion of their finance to benefit the environment.
240,000 Businesses newly supported to drive sustainable growth
More than 1,000 Leading-edge businesses newly supported to back innovation
20,000 Businesses newly supported to unlock potential for entrepreneurs regardless of where and who they are.
Up to 9,000 Businesses using finance to build the modern green economy.
The Bank’s expanded financial capacity will help us scale up our impact further.
2024/25 was another impactful year for the Bank with thousands of businesses newly benefitting from our support alongside thousands more who received further financial backing from our programmes.
Of course, the Bank doesn’t just help UK businesses through access to finance, we also deliver important impacts through utilising our UK Network to strengthen finance ecosystems, through building finance knowledge using our Finance Hub and through diversifying finance markets with the help of our suite of more than 200 delivery partners.
These wider impacts are not easily translated into pounds of GVA, but they are no less important and will continue to be vital for the Bank’s mission.
June’s Spending Review announcements give a further boost to this mission. With our total financial capacity increased to £25.6bn and reforms to our governance and financial arrangements taking place this year, we will be in a position to successfully deliver a significantly increased level of investment activity in the future. Furthermore, our newly-permanent capital base gives us greater flexibility to re-invest returns over the long term to support more businesses in achieving even greater impacts for the UK.