G&G verified business evidence
In 2025, 50% of smaller businesses seeking finance said it was to support working capital.
The British Business Bank Business Finance Survey interviewed 1,734 smaller businesses between September and December 2025. The 50% denominator is businesses seeking finance, not all smaller businesses and not all current finance users.
Conditional estimate among smaller businesses seeking finance.
British Business Bank
Small Business Finance Markets Report 2025/26
The report states that half of businesses seeking finance in 2025 were seeking it to support working capital.
British Business Bank. Small Business Finance Markets Report 2025/26. 17th of March, 2026. https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/about/research-and-publications/small-business-finance-markets-report-2026
Working capital remained the leading reason for seeking finance among smaller UK businesses in 2025: 50% of those seeking finance said it was to support working capital. The figure is relevant to cash-flow planning but applies only to finance-seeking businesses.
Businesses seeking finance for working capital: 49% in 2021, 53% in 2022, 58% in 2023, 51% in 2024 and 50% in 2025. Businesses seeking finance to invest in business growth: 43% in 2025. Smaller businesses that had sought external finance during the previous three years: 24% in the 2025 Business Finance Survey. The survey interviewed 1,734 smaller businesses between September and December 2025.
Half of finance-seeking smaller businesses cited working capital, showing that day-to-day cash-flow needs remained a major reason for approaching finance providers. This does not mean half of all smaller businesses needed working-capital finance, nor does it show the amount requested, whether applications succeeded or whether the need reflected growth or financial distress.
The 50% denominator is smaller businesses that sought finance, not all smaller businesses or all current finance users. Results are self-reported from the 2025 Business Finance Survey of 1,734 smaller businesses conducted between September and December 2025. Annual comparisons may reflect changes in the sample and business environment as well as underlying finance demand.
Before seeking working-capital finance, SMEs can map debtor days, creditor terms, stock cycles, seasonal peaks, tax liabilities, facility headroom and repayment sensitivity. Those are practical finance-planning considerations and are not conclusions reported by the British Business Bank survey.
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