0% Start-up loans

Now is your time to start-up - unsecured loans of up to £5,000 are now available.

Is now the time to do what you’ve always wanted to? Perhaps you’re leaving another business behind and looking to start up in a growing sector. Maybe your fledging business is doing OK but needs a financial boost.

If you’ve a brand-new business or your business is less than Five years old, you could be eligible for an interest-free loan of between £3,000 to £5,000, which can be used for most purposes to allow you to fund those key purchases to get your business off the ground. 

The loan is unsecured, so there’s no need to put forward any assets or guarantors to support an application.

• Interest free loans of £3,000 to £5,000
• No set-up fee
• No requirement for match-funding
• Unsecured
• Repaid in full after 12 months with no repayments prior to this. If the loan is not repaid in full after 12 months interest will be added.

Check your eligibility

• Businesses based in Staffordshire (this excludes Stoke-on-Trent)
• Start-up businesses or businesses operating for less than five years.
• Must have attended or be prepared to attend one of our free and invaluable mentoring programmes specifically for start-up support.

Apply

Call or email today to begin a conversation about the Start-Up Loans and support. Contact the team on startuploans@staffordshire.gov.uk.

 Expression of Interest

Step Up loans up to £5,000

Is your business based in Cannock Chase District Council or East Staffordshire Borough Council?

If so, and the business has been going for between 2-5 years, you may be eligible to apply for a Step Up loan. These loans are fully funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity fund.

Loans can be used to help your business grow to the next step by purchasing equipment or capital items. The loans are interest free for one year and do not need to be repaid until 12 months after the loan has been issued.

There is no match funding required and no guarantor.

To find out more, book a call by emailing startuploans@Staffordshire.gov.uk.

Need some mentoring or advice around start-up a business before you apply?

Contact us to explore your options, which could include:

• Staffordshire Start-up scheme operated by the Chamber of Commerce
• Princes Trust
• Be inspired Staffordshire University (BiSU)
• NatWest Local Enterprise Managers 

Get in touch and we can signpost you to the relevant organization for invaluable free support to help you to take that first step towards running your own business. Contact us at startuploans@staffordshire.gov.uk 

The county council’s new Staffordshire Start-up Programme is a new programme of free advice, mentoring and support to people wanting to set up their own business in Staffordshire.  Delivered by experts at the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce on behalf of the county council, the online sessions can help with the big leap towards self-employment, how to select your market and how to enter it and how to see the early warning signals of a crisis and how to overcome them.

If you complete the programme, you’ll then be offered follow-up support session to access finance and get the know-how on surviving those tricky few years. Contact the Growth Hub now via email on businessenquiries@stokestaffslep.org.uk or call 0300 111 8002.

Learning and skills for Staffordshire start-ups

If you are considering how to re-skill, up-skill or acquire new skills to help you with starting your business, then our own community learning service offers a range of courses covering a variety of skills - including marketing, accounting, languages, computing, presentation skills, maths, English, and hundreds more. There are more than 200 courses available.

Browse all courses currently available on the Staffordshire Community Learning website.