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Start Up Loans celebrates £6m in loans to small businesses in Swansea

Press release 23 February 2024

Swansea is one of four Welsh counties to hit key Start Up Loans financing milestone.

The Start Up Loans programme, part of the British Business Bank, today announces that it has delivered over £6m of funding to small businesses in Swansea since the programme launched in 2012.

Of all local authorities in Wales, Swansea has received the highest value of loans since the scheme launched in 2012. The £6m in Start Up Loans has been delivered to a total of 582 small businesses with an average loan value of £10,414.

Swansea is among four Welsh counties which have reached key funding milestones as of February 2024. Receiving a combined £15m in Start Up Loans alongside Swansea are Newport (£3m), Carmarthenshire (£3m) and Caerphilly (£3m).

Across Wales, small businesses have received a total of more than £48m in 4,700 loans, with the average loan amount more than £10,000.

The British Business Bank Start Up Loans programme provides government backed loans of up to £25,000 per individual, up to a maximum of £100,000 per business. In addition to finance, successful applicants receive free mentoring, access to resources and advice.

See below for a full breakdown of loans to the top 10 local authorities in Wales since 2012, including amount lent, volume and average amount.

Top entrepreneurial local authorities in Wales

Local Authority

Amount Lent (£)

Loans Made

Average Loan Amount (£)

Swansea

6,060,908

582

10,414

Cardiff

5,681,973

552

10,293

Newport

3,123,915

308

10,143

Carmarthenshire

3,051,035

284

10,743

Caerphilly

3,001,285

298

10,071

Neath Port Talbot

2,634,352

263

10,017

Rhondda Cynon Taf

2,561,897

266

9,631

Vale of Glamorgan

2,400,757

210

11,432

Bridgend

2,118,829

226

9,375

Pembrokeshire

1,890,484

197

9,596

Start Up Loans is proud to have provided more than £48m worth of funding to business owners across Wales since 2012. Reaching this significant milestone of delivering more than £6m in loans to small businesses in Swansea is something we’re really pleased to have achieved.

We hope that aspiring business owners from across Wales are inspired by the stories of successful businesses that have launched across the nation, thanks to the funding available via the programme. We’re excited to see what the next generation of Welsh founders brings in 2024 and beyond.

Louise McCoy Commercial Managing Director, Small Business Lending at the British Business Bank

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact mediaenquiries@british-business-bank.co.uk.

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 Business Support 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 borrowers’ 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 and Trade (DBT). A development bank wholly government-owned by DBT, 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 over 100,000 loans, providing more than £1bn of funding.
  • In the financial year 2022/23, the scheme provided 9,549 loans with a total value of approximately £120m.
  • 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, 31% of loans went to people formerly unemployed or economically inactive. Some 40% of loan recipients were women and 21% were from ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities).

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