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Am I Eligible?

The Small Loans for Businesses scheme is open to anyone in the Northwest - covering Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria.

It aimed at people already running or looking to start one of the following ventures:

  • New or small business
  • Trading arms of charities
  • Social enterprise
  • Not-for-profit organisation

The main criteria is you can show that you have tried to obtain funding from traditional sources - bank or building society for example, and been rejected. It maybe due to a poor credit score, lack of security, insufficient track record or plans that traditional lenders consider too risky.

Successful applicants MUST be able to demonstrate:

  • Good management
  • They are not an undertaking in difficulty
  • Viable business plan
  • An ability to service the borrowing required
  • An inability to obtain sufficient funding from conventional sources and that the absence of such funding is exposing the business to the risk of failure to achieve its growth potential.
  • The Loan will not be used to pay down existing borrowings.
  • Through their business plans, should be able to demonstrate a positive impact on jobs, either through job creation or preservation.

As long as you've got a workable business plan, with the potential to create new jobs - even if it's just one or two - you can apply. You can apply for any size of loan between £3,000 and £50,000.

The scheme is open to everyone, and we particularly welcome applications from women, minority groups and businesses in deprived areas.