Retail body welcomes government plans to expand access to finance for small firms

The British Independent Retailers Association have welcomed government plans to expand access to finance for small businesses.

The association, which works with over 6,000 independent businesses of all sizes across the UK have said the move could help ease long-standing barriers to finance faced by the sector.

The reforms include an expansion of the Growth Guarantee Scheme, which provides a government guarantee on commercial loans to small and medium sized businesses, alongside £500 million of funding through the ENABLE Guarantee programme to support innovative firms.

The changes are expected to help thousands more small businesses access the finance they need to grow.

Andrew Goodacre, (pictured) CEO of Bira, said: "We welcome the extra funding for this scheme, and we really hope it will increase the access to funding for independent retailers.

“I often hear that lenders consider the sector to be 'high risk', and this scheme should go some way to mitigating this risk."

Mr Goodacre said independent retailers have often found it harder than larger competitors to secure finance from mainstream lenders, and that any measures which improve that access are a welcome step for the high street.