Scotland SME Access to Finance Report - 2026

Devolved Nation project overview

The make-up of sub-national economies can vary significantly within a particular nation. Factors such as location (urban/rural/coastal), the background of business owners (gender, age and ethnicity), the local business base, the size/maturity of businesses, and the sectoral composition all have an impact. This project seeks to understand the extent to which these differing characteristics affect or influence attitudes towards the use of external finance amongst the SME population.

This report seeks to better understand the differences between sub-national access to finance economies, whilst simultaneously undertaking a devolved nations comparison. This is the third year the Bank has supported this project, having published a suite of nation specific sub-regional access to finance reports in 2024 and 2025. This research was completed in partnership with Business Gateway.

Scotland findings

• 69% of Scottish SMEs reported using any finance
• 13% of smaller businesses in Scotland reported experiencing barriers to accessing finance
• 85% of Scotland based businesses perceived their cash flow position as positive
• 47% anticipated requiring additional financing over the next 12 months
• 85% of those requiring additional finance felt confident about securing it

Sub-national findings

• SMEs based in the Highlands and Islands were least likely to report using any finance (52%)
• SMEs based in Glasgow and Strathclyde were most likely to report no barriers in relation to accessing finance (75%)
• Smaller businesses from Glasgow and Strathclyde were also the least likely to report they expected to require additional finance over the next year (43%)
• SMEs based in Aberdeen and North East were fully confident (100%) in being able to attain additional finance
• Smaller businesses based in Aberdeen and North East were also most inclined to anticipate growth (64%) in the year ahead

Devolved Nations comparison

• Scotland had the highest overall proportion of smaller businesses using external finance (69%) compared to the other Devolved Nations (56% and 66% in Northern Ireland and Wales respectively)
• Scotland-based SMEs reported one or more barriers to external finance access at the lowest rate (13%) compared to the other Devolved Nations (18% and 19% in Northern Ireland and Wales respectively)
• Scotland-based smaller businesses had the highest proportion of positive perceptions regarding their cash flow position (85% compared to 69% in Northern Ireland and 80% in Wales)
• Scotland-based smaller businesses were the second most optimistic about their growth prospects over the next 12 months (49%), behind Northern Ireland (56%) but ahead of Wales (30%)