Unlocking £1bn in extra finance for SME’s: The New UK Community Finance Partnership Taskforce
At Let’s Do Business Finance, we’re delighted to see the launch of the new Community Finance Partnership Taskforce — a government-backed initiative designed to unlock an additional £1 billion of lending for UK small businesses over the next five years.
The announcement, covered in The Times and City A.M., highlighted the real impact of community finance by featuring one of the businesses we’re proud to have supported — Bare Beauty in Eastbourne — as an example of how responsible lending can enable small businesses to grow and thrive and provide real impact in communities across the UK through job creation and revived high streets.
Unlocking the Growth of Bare Beauty
Bare Beauty, based in Eastbourne, secured £25,001 in funding in the summer of 2025 through Let’s Do Business Finance to support its expansion and future growth plans. Like many small businesses, the company needed access to finance that was flexible, relationship-led and tailored to its ambitions.
By providing the right funding at the right time through a business loan supported by the Community ENABLE Fund and Growth Guarantee Scheme, we were able to help Bare Beauty’s owner Holly Foster to invest in the next stage of development of the business - demonstrating exactly the kind of local economic impact that community finance is designed to deliver.
It’s encouraging to see national media recognising the important role that Responsible Finance Providers play in supporting businesses that might otherwise struggle to access traditional bank lending.
A New Chapter for Community Finance
The new taskforce launched in February 2026
The new Taskforce, observed by the Department of Business and Trade and HM Treasury, brings together major highstreet banks like NatWest, Lloyds Bank, Barclays, JPMorganChase and Mastercard alongside the British Business Bank and leaders from across the community finance sector including Responsible Finance and BCRS Business Loans, to strengthen partnerships between lenders and in turn increase the flow of capital into Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs).
The mission for the new Taskforce is clear: to scale up community lending, and ensure that more viable businesses can access the funding they need to grow.
Theodora Hadjimichael, CEO of Responsible Finance, said:
“When businesses find a community lender, they often wish they’d discovered it sooner. The taskforce has a clear priority, to make it easier for people running small businesses to get the finance they need.
Big banks and community lenders are coming together to grow the community finance sector, and we want to see this partnership translate into more referrals from banks to CDFIs, more capital to meet businesses’ needs and more awareness, so CDFIs become local household names.
The evidence is clear that flexible, affordable funding from CDFIs helps small businesses to thrive, take advantage of opportunities and access bank finance in the future.”
As a Responsible Finance Provider covering the South and South East of England, including London, Let’s Do Business Finance sees first-hand how many strong, ambitious businesses require a more flexible and fair approach to lending. The Taskforce has the potential to significantly increase sector-wide lending capacity — meaning long term we can support even more businesses like Bare Beauty with their ambitions.
Supporting More Ambitious Businesses Across Our Region
For us, this is about more than a headline figure of £1 billion. It’s about what that capital represents on the ground. For the communities we serve, this can mean:
More independent retailers expanding on local high streets
More service businesses investing in staff and infrastructure
More entrepreneurs turning potential into long-term sustainability
More local jobs created across our communities
With increased collaboration between banks and community-focused lenders, and stronger capital backing for the Responsible Finance sector, we anticipate being able to broaden our reach and deepen our impact.
Working with Brokers to Deliver Impact
The Taskforce also signals greater opportunity for partnership across the wider finance ecosystem.
Commercial finance brokers play an increasingly important role in guiding businesses to the right funding solutions, and as lending capacity grows within our sector, we look forward to working even more closely with like-minded brokers to support clients who need a flexible, responsible alternative to mainstream lending.
Together, we can ensure more businesses — just like Bare Beauty — are able to access the finance that powers sustainable growth.
Looking Ahead
Seeing Bare Beauty championed as an example of successful community finance is a proud moment for our team – and it is also a reminder that there are thousands more businesses across the South and South East with similar ambition and potential.
With the support of the new Community Finance Partnership Taskforce, we are excited about the opportunity to scale our impact and help unlock growth for even more small businesses across our region.
