Despite the clear market opportunity the expansion of Government-funded hours represents, many nursery owners I speak to say they are struggling to capitalise on it because they can’t find the finance they need to do so.
This is a result of the cautious approach high-street banks have taken to SME lending in recent years to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in light of climbing interest rates and unfavourable macroeconomic trends.
Recent figures from UK Finance in fact revealed that gross lending to SMEs dropped 22 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022. In pursuit of ‘safe bets’, high-street banks have instead been actively competing for corporate customers with attractive interest rates and other perks that aren’t filtering down to SMEs.
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