Grant / Funding Route
Recovery Loan Scheme finance for SME office solar
Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS): Up to £2m, 70% government guaranteed. Eligible for uk smes (turnover <£45m).
At a glance
- Funding type
- Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS)
- Value
- Up to £2m, 70% government guaranteed
- Eligibility
- UK SMEs (turnover <£45m)
The Recovery Loan Scheme is administered by the British Business Bank and provides UK SMEs with access to government-guaranteed commercial loans of up to £2m. Originally launched during COVID-19, RLS has been extended multiple times and now functions as a permanent SME finance route.
The government provides a 70% guarantee to the lender, meaning commercial banks and asset finance providers can offer financing to SMEs that might otherwise fall outside their normal lending criteria. For SMEs with strong cash flow but limited security, RLS can unlock financing where pure commercial routes would decline.
For office solar capex, RLS is particularly useful for SMEs in the £100k-£2m system size range. Term lengths up to 6 years for asset finance, longer for property-secured term loans. Rates vary by lender but typically run 2-3 percentage points above commercial bank base rates.
Eligibility requirements:
We work with the major UK SME lenders who participate in RLS (HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Investec, Aldermore, Shawbrook) and structure asset finance proposals that use RLS where it materially improves the customer's terms.