Business

The British Business Bank has published a new five-year strategic plan designed to deliver a step change in how smaller businesses across the UK access finance, following an expanded mandate and increased government backing.

The plan, unveiled today, responds to the Government’s decision earlier this year to increase the Bank’s permanent financial capacity to £25.6 billion and give it greater flexibility to support high-growth and strategically important companies. The Bank said the updated mission reflects a drive to help businesses “start, scale and stay” in the UK, supporting long-term economic growth.

Under the strategy, the Bank will significantly expand its investment activity, take on higher levels of portfolio risk and direct more support to scale-ups, regional clusters and science-based industries identified in the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy. It intends to increase annual deployment by two-thirds, unlocking a projected £26 billion of private capital alongside £13 billion of public funding, and enabling up to £10 billion in small business lending through guarantees.

A major focus of the plan is supporting fast-growing firms. The Bank said it would target more than 60% of its venture and growth-stage investment towards scale-ups, and gain the ability to write £100 million-plus cheques to the most promising funds. It will also increase the size and number of direct investments to ensure strategically important UK companies can raise domestic capital rather than turning overseas.

To support regional and inclusive growth, the Bank plans to deliver 85,000 Start Up Loans over the next five years and invest £150 million in Community Development Finance Institutions to help underserved entrepreneurs. Two new regional investment funds will be created in the East and South-East of England, building on the Bank’s existing regional initiatives. It also intends to support new regional science and innovation clusters and establish new angel investment networks.

The Bank will also undergo structural reform, streamlining internal processes and updating its operating model to speed up decision-making and work more flexibly in line with its increased risk appetite.

Louis Taylor, Chief Executive of the British Business Bank, said the plan’s ambition was to reshape the UK finance ecosystem by 2030.
“Our ambition is clear: a more dynamic and inclusive finance ecosystem, where innovative and ambitious companies — wherever they are based and whoever leads them — can access the capital they need not only to get started, but to scale, stay, and succeed here in the UK,” he said. Taylor added that the plan is expected to support around 180,000 businesses, help create 370,000 jobs, and generate £68 billion in economic benefit.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the reforms would unlock growth suppressed by lack of access to capital.
“Our small businesses have ambition and bright ideas in abundance, but too often they lack the finance they need to reach their full potential,” he said. “This has to change — and with this new five-year plan it will. The Bank is increasing its pace of investment by two-thirds, with a £4 billion boost for the most promising businesses in our Industrial Strategy sectors.”

The plan is structured around four strategic objectives set in October: supporting high-potential businesses in priority sectors; improving access to finance for smaller firms; unlocking potential across people and places; and mobilising institutional capital at scale.

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British Business Bank sets out five-year plan to transform small business finance

Women across the EU symbolically begin “working for free” from today, as the bloc marks the point in the calendar when pay inequality means women, on average, stop earning relative to men.

With the EU gender pay gap standing at 12%, 22 November represents the date after which women’s work is, in effect, unpaid compared with their male colleagues.

The European Commission used the occasion to warn that progress on closing the gap remains painfully slow and could take decades at the current pace. Leaders said the issue is not only a matter of fairness but one that undermines economic growth, entrenches poverty and limits the EU’s talent pipeline.

Despite legal protections and growing public awareness, the Commission said women continue to face a complex mix of structural, social and discriminatory barriers that depress wages and limit career opportunities. These include job segregation, motherhood penalties, pay discrimination, cultural expectations and unequal responsibility for unpaid care work.

Officials pointed to persistent gender stereotyping that begins in childhood — with girls more often praised for appearance than ability, and encouraged toward caring professions that are undervalued and lower paid. Around 24% of the gender pay gap is estimated to stem from this occupational segregation.

A fictional case study, widely shared by the Commission, illustrates how two equally qualified graduates can quickly diverge in pay and seniority. While “Alex” negotiates confidently, ascends quickly and benefits from workplace mentorship, “Maria” accepts a lower starting salary, takes maternity leave, shifts to part-time hours and shoulders unpaid domestic care — setbacks that compound across a lifetime.

Commission leaders warned this story reflects the lived experience of millions of women across the EU’s labour market.

Executive Vice-President Mînzatu and Commissioner Lahbib reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to building a “Union of Equality”, arguing that economic resilience requires unlocking women’s full potential. They highlighted recent legislation on equal pay, work–life balance, gender balance on corporate boards and pay transparency, designed to dismantle barriers and expose unjustified pay disparities.

The Commission said closing the pay gap would deliver widespread benefits, including higher GDP, greater tax revenues, reduced poverty, a larger skilled workforce and more competitive companies. It also warned that younger generations may one day look back with disbelief that inequality was allowed to persist long after its causes were well understood.

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From today, women in the EU symbolically work for free as gender pay gap persists

A cross-party group of MPs will deliver a 152,000-signature FairFuelUK petition to 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to cut or at least freeze fuel duty in next week’s Winter Budget.

The delegation will be led by Lewis Cocking, MP for Broxbourne, amid rising concern that the Treasury is preparing increases that campaigners say would hit households, small businesses and rural communities hard.

The appeal comes as speculation intensifies in Westminster that Reeves may raise fuel duty by 5p per litre, reverse Rishi Sunak’s temporary 2022 “Ukraine cut”, introduce 3p-per-mile charges for EVs, or revive the long-abandoned fuel price escalator. FairFuelUK argues such measures would be economically damaging and deeply unpopular, warning they could worsen the cost-of-living crisis and stifle business investment.

Campaigners expressed frustration that despite Labour MPs being invited by constituents to a pre-Budget parliamentary reception, only one attended — and refused to say whether they backed a cut, freeze or increase. FairFuelUK says this shows the party is “ignoring its own voters”, pointing to polling indicating widespread support for keeping fuel duty frozen.

In its 15th annual public poll, which has already received over 60,000 responses, three-quarters of 2024 Labour voters said they want fuel duty cut or frozen. One in ten Labour voters said they want it scrapped entirely. FairFuelUK founder Howard Cox said Reeves risks a political backlash if she raises duty now.

“Keeping fuel duty frozen will be one of the best fiscal stimuli for this unpopular government to restore confidence,” he said. “Hiking it could be the final political blow in a succession of self-inflicted disasters.”

Fuel duty has been frozen for 15 years and currently sits 6p lower than when Labour was last in power. FairFuelUK argues that keeping it frozen has held inflation down and supported the Treasury by reducing price pressures.

The group warns that fuel prices remain one of the biggest costs facing families, commuters, tradespeople and rural communities — many of whom lack viable public transport alternatives. They say a cut would put money directly back into household budgets, support job creation and stimulate economic activity across logistics, delivery, manufacturing and small business sectors.

FairFuelUK cites analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which predicts that raising fuel duty would deliver minimal short-term revenue and could cause Treasury fuel tax income to collapse by more than 60% within five years, as higher prices reduce consumption.

The petition also urges Reeves to continue the rollout of PumpWatch, the pricing transparency scheme designed to prevent excessive profiteering in the fuel supply chain. The Competition and Markets Authority found that supermarket fuel margins doubled between 2017 and 2023, rising from 4% to 9%, with non-supermarket forecourts increasing margins to nearly 11%. FairFuelUK says current pump prices are 5p to 9p per litre higher than they should be and wants PumpWatch given full legislative power under Labour.

As the Winter Budget approaches, FairFuelUK says the Chancellor’s decision on fuel duty will be a defining moment for households and businesses already under severe financial strain.

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MPs to deliver 152,000-signature petition urging Chancellor to cut or freeze fuel duty