£76 million in business start-up loans delivered across West Midlands

Since 2012, the Start Up Loans scheme has provided 8,231 loans to businesses across the region, with the average loan being £9,897

Counties in the West Midlands receiving the most funding since 2012 include £38m for the West Midlands, taking in the Black Country, and £13m for Staffordshire. In Shropshire, £6.9m was handed out and in Worcestershire £7.4m.

Start Up Loans, part of the British Business Bank, has delivered 2,304 loans amounting to more than £29.6m since the Covid pandemic began – 39 per cent of the total value of loans delivered over the lifetime of the programme.

The UK total since 2012 is 99,744 loans, amounting to more than £934m

Of the total 8,231 loans in the West Midlands, 39 per cent have been to women and 25 per cent to people from black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds.

Young people between 18 and 24-years-old have received 18 per cent of the loans in the region since 2012, and 11 per cent of the total loans made to people in the same age bracket nationally since the scheme began in 2012.

Small business minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “If we are to unlock economic growth, we need to remove the barriers faced by the UK’s most innovative entrepreneurs when it comes to accessing funding and growing their business.

“Backed by more than 8,231 loans worth more than £76.1m, our most dynamic small businesses across the West Midlands have been able to tap into government support to flourish and fast-track their business ideas and innovations to market.”

Sophie Dale-Black, director of the UK network – Midlands and North of England, said: “It’s a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of the West Midlands that we’re celebrating such a significant milestone, more than £75m, invested across the West Midlands since 2012.

“I am particularly proud of the fact that we have been able to support such a huge volume of young aspiring business people and their start up ventures in the West Midlands, which represents 11 per cent of the total across the entire of the UK.”

Nirmla Warwood, owner of Thatch and Stone, Walsall,said: “I would encourage anyone who’s thinking of setting up their own business and becoming their own boss to explore the possibilities the Start Up Loans scheme has to offer. The support you receive makes a real difference.”

The West Midlands county has had 4,442 loans, Staffordshire 1,381, Worcestershire 717 and Shropshire 716.