Recovery Loan Scheme (iteration 3) Performance Data as at 31 March 2024

21 May 2024

On 1 August 2022, applications opened for the government announced third iteration of the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS 3). The British Business Bank launch supported the ongoing commitment to empower UK smaller businesses to invest and grow through sustainable, accessible funding.

Originally, due to end on 30 June 2024, the Chancellor announced in the Spring Budget that the scheme will be extended for a further two years until 31 March 2026. To reflect the successful evolution of the scheme it will be renamed the Growth Guarantee Scheme.

This is a government-backed loan scheme designed to support access to finance and growth for UK businesses with turnover of up to £45m. The Government provides a 70% guarantee to the lender of the outstanding scheme facility amount. The borrower remains 100% liable for the debt. Further details on the Recovery Loan Scheme are available on the British Business Bank website. 

RLS 3 is supported by a diverse group of more than 60 lenders, to date delivering £1.15bn in financing to UK smaller businesses, with £0.81bn of that funding reaching businesses outside of London and the South-East.

The first two iterations of the Recovery Loan Scheme enabled £4.33bn of finance. Data for RLS iteration 1 & 2 is separately published.

This is the first publication of the prevailing Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS 3), the performance data is as at 31 March 2024. It should be noted that the data is reliant on information submitted to the British Business Bank’s scheme portal by accredited lenders.

RLS 3 has been utilised to enable 7,063 scheme facilities, totalling £1.15bn and driving the sustainability and growth of the associated UK businesses. To date, 12 lender claims of £0.57m have been settled by the British Business Bank against the Government guarantee. This equates to 0.05% of the total drawn value or 0.17% of the total number of drawn facilities.

Detailed facility status

See Definitions below when interpreting these tables.

    Breakdown of facilities drawn and settled

    Lender nameDrawn value (£m)Number of facilitiesSettled value (£m)Settled number of facilities
    ABN AMRO Asset Based Finance N.V.

    6.97

    10

    -

    -

    Aldermore Bank Plc

    6.02

    13

    -

    -

    Allica Bank Limited

    45.82

    243

    -

    -

    Arbuthnot Latham & Co Ltd

    33.14

    24

    -

    -

    Arkle Finance Ltd

    8.16

    75

    -

    -

    ART SHARE Limited

    1.8

    31

    -

    -

    Atom Bank plc

    83.46

    151

    -

    -

    Bank of Scotland plc

    0.6

    2

    -

    -

    Barclays Bank Plc

    18.61

    36

    -

    -

    BCRS Business Loans Ltd

    5.14

    62

    -

    -

    Business Enterprise Fund

    13.63

    172

    -

    -

    Business Lending Group

    9.41

    18

    -

    -

    Capitalise Business Support Ltd

    2.55

    36

    0.13

    3

    Close Brothers Ltd

    155.28

    629

    0.19

    5

    Clydesdale Bank Plc

    5.05

    13

    -

    -

    Compass Business Finance

    17.44

    142

    -

    -

    Coventry & Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust Ltd

    2.24

    32

    -

    -

    Danske Bank

    4.75

    10

    -

    -

    DSL Business Finance

    0.19

    4

    -

    -

    Enterprise Answers

    1.16

    14

    -

    -

    Enterprise Loans East Midlands

    5.23

    65

    -

    -

    EVBL (General Partner NPIF Y&H Debt) Limited

    18.1

    72

    -

    -

    Finance for Enterprise

    10.77

    100

    0.09

    1

    FSE Finance East Loan Management (FE LM)

    1.34

    5

    -

    -

    FSE FYI LP

    1.8

    13

    -

    -

    FSE GLIF LD LP

    12.65

    12

    -

    -

    FSE GLIF SD LP

    7.06

    20

    -

    -

    FSE MEIF LP

    18.31

    24

    -

    -

    Funding Circle

    185.2

    2,461

    -

    -

    GC Business Finance

    0.88

    4

    -

    -

    Genesis Asset Finance Ltd

    1.48

    23

    -

    -

    Growth Finance Fund LP (WhiteRock Capital Partners LLP)

    8.4

    13

    -

    -

    Hampshire Trust Bank Plc

    13.71

    50

    -

    -

    Haydock Finance

    3.44

    8

    -

    -

    HSBC UK Bank Plc

    155.18

    577

    -

    -

    Investec Bank PLC

    5.81

    22

    -

    -

    Kingsway Finance group

    13.39

    91

    -

    -

    Lloyds Bank Plc

    24.77

    107

    -

    -

    MEIF - ESEM SBL LP

    3.17

    35

    -

    -

    MEIF - Maven East and South East Midlands

    2.61

    8

    -

    -

    MEIF - Maven West Midlands

    3

    5

    -

    -

    MEIF - WM SBL LP

    3.75

    58

    -

    -

    Merchant Money Ltd (t/a Momenta Finance)

    1.14

    8

    -

    -

    MSIF

    0.82

    6

    -

    -

    NatWest Group plc

    21.8

    128

    -

    -

    NE Growth (ERDF) General Partner Ltd

    1.81

    8

    -

    -

    Newable Business Loans Ltd

    0.3

    1

    -

    -

    North East (ERDF) Small Loan Fund Limited

    0.8

    11

    -

    -

    North West Loans NPIF GP Limited

    18.19

    55

    -

    -

    Novuna

    2.75

    7

    -

    -

    NPIF - NW MF LP

    2.39

    42

    -

    -

    NPIF - YHTV MF LP

    2.7

    44

    -

    -

    Paragon Bank PLC

    6.97

    35

    -

    -

    Robert Owen Community Bank Fund

    0.68

    12

    -

    -

    Santander UK

    1.63

    4

    -

    -

    Shire Leasing plc

    24.21

    274

    0.08

    1

    Simply Asset Finance Operations

    92.98

    634

    0.03

    1

    Skipton Business Finance Ltd

    4.56

    25

    -

    -

    Social Investment Business Foundation

    6.2

    30

    -

    -

    SWIG Finance

    9.19

    81

    -

    -

    Tower Leasing Ltd

    10.29

    112

    0.05

    1

    TVC Loans NPIF GP Limited

    18.52

    53

    -

    -

    UK Steel Enterprise Ltd

    0.43

    3

    -

    -

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    0.57

    12

    Drawn by Region/Nation

    Region

    Drawn value (£m)

    Number of facilities

    East Midlands

    93.57

    539

    East of England

    106.07

    681

    London

    189.90

    1,072

    North East

    47.29

    259

    North West

    141.45

    859

    Northern Ireland

    25.65

    86

    Scotland

    54.56

    388

    South East

    148.89

    961

    South West

    86.50

    547

    Wales

    39.90

    285

    West Midlands

    110.19

    701

    Yorkshire and The Humber

    101.84

    663

    Unspecified*

    3.98

    22

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    * This includes Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the facilities where location could not be specifically determined through information provided by lenders.

    Drawn by Sector

    SIC Group

    Drawn value (£m)

    Number of facilities

    Accommodation and food service activities

    59.06

    447

    Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods-and services-producing activities of households for own use

    0.20

    3

    Administrative and support service activities

    122.49

    719

    Agriculture, forestry and fishing

    18.74

    173

    Arts, entertainment and recreation

    24.63

    163

    Construction

    117.35

    818

    Education

    11.02

    104

    Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply

    0.71

    8

    Financial and insurance activities

    33.20

    141

    Human health and social work activities

    40.73

    275

    Information and communication

    51.94

    345

    Manufacturing

    190.59

    942

    Mining and quarrying

    9.09

    33

    Other service activities

    20.93

    223

    Professional, scientific and technical activities

    91.04

    567

    Public administration and defence; compulsory social security

    0.78

    4

    Real estate activities

    102.93

    306

    Transportation and storage

    54.25

    467

    Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities

    21.50

    108

    Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles

    178.59

    1,217

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    Drawn by Scheme Facility Type

    Scheme Facility Type

    Drawn value (£m)

    Number of facilities

    Business term loan

    822.44

    5,159

    Asset finance

    294.26

    1,771

    Invoice finance

    32.10

    132

    Revolving credit

    1.00

    1

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    Drawn by Company Size

    Company Size

    Drawn Value (£m)

    Number of facilities

    Fewer than 10

    494.27

    4,238

    Between 10 and 49

    455.08

    2,249

    Between 50 and 249

    183.90

    542

    More than 250

    16.54

    34

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    Note: Company size represents number of employees

    Drawn by Turnover

    Turnover (£)

    Drawn value (£m)

    Number of facilities

    Less than 50K

    29.34

    197

    50,001 to 100K

    50.01

    521

    100,001 to 250K

    86.40

    1,001

    250,001 to 500K

    106.51

    1,048

    500,001 to 1m

    165.52

    1,261

    1m to 5m

    404.84

    2,167

    5m to 25m

    265.55

    784

    25m to 50m

    41.63

    84

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    Drawn by Age of Business

    Age of Business

    Drawn value (£m)

    Number of facilities

    Less than 1 year

    88.06

    391

    1 to 4 years

    208.41

    1,545

    5 to 9 years

    282.10

    2,132

    10 to 14 years

    213.17

    1,291

    15 to 24 years

    207.52

    1,092

    25 to 49 years

    122.64

    490

    50 years or more

    27.89

    122

    Grand Total

    1,149.79

    7,063

    Definitions

    • Drawn value - the total amount for facilities which have been drawn down by the borrower.
    • Facility or facilities - refers to a Recovery Loan Scheme (third iteration) facility or facilities, being either a term loan facility, a revolving credit facility, an invoice finance facility, or an asset finance facility (as applicable) made available by an accredited lender to a borrower.
    • Scheme portal - the database hosted by the Bank as part of its role in administering the schemes. It is used by all accredited scheme lenders to report on guaranteed facilities and make claims under the guarantee agreement. The reporting requirements have evolved over time. The portal is updated at various points in a facility lifecycle as reported by lenders.
    • Settled - settlement has been made following a lender making a claim. Once the guarantee claim is processed and payment is released, the facility is marked as settled on the Scheme portal.
    • Turnover - estimated annual turnover of the borrower, inputted by the lender.

    Limitations and further considerations

    The following should be considered in relation to the data:

    • Data is as at 31 March 2024, and extracted at close of business on the 16 April 2024, from the information continuously submitted to the British Business Bank’s portal by accredited lenders. The portal is used by the British Business Bank and lenders to administer the facilities. Portal data is dependent on lenders submitting accurate and timely data and is not real-time.
    • The terms of and the timing of the scheme may not be representative of the lenders’ risk appetites, their general loan credit quality, or their default experience.
    • Given the size of the scheme, the numbers of facilities, and the period over which they are being offered and drawn down, data being collected remains fluid and subject to refinement and correction over time (comparative analysis may therefore have limitations).
    • The timing and level of claims made on the guarantee will vary according to a lender’s business model and the characteristics of their customers (for example repayment options offered, age of businesses, whether new or existing customers).
    • Some lenders may be more advanced than others in operationalising their Claims and Recoveries processes which could lead to figures being distorted initially but this will stabilise over time.
    • Lenders may submit guarantee claims quarterly in line with the terms of the guarantee.
    • Claims on the guarantee may subsequently benefit from recovery receipts achieved at a later date (which are not reflected in the figures above), and so are not a conclusive indicator of net cost to government.
    • All data excludes facilities where a scheme guarantee has been removed and the facility is no longer covered by the scheme.

    This data is not suitable to be relied on by any party wishing to acquire rights against the British Business Bank group of companies (“BBB”) or any of the Recovery Loan Scheme (third iteration) guarantee scheme lenders for any purpose or in any context. Any party choosing to rely on the data detailed in this release (or any part of it) does so at its own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the British Business Bank does not assume any responsibility or liability to any other party in respect of this data.

    Notes

    RLS 3 is open to new applications through participating lenders, who are listed on the British Business Bank website.

    Further information for businesses and lenders, is available on the British Business Bank website.