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On 10th July, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) published its annual Investing in Women Code report.
UK Finance is proud to be a delivery partner of the Investing in Women Code since its inception, working with member signatories of the Code to support female entrepreneurs.
The Investing in Women Code was a key recommendation of the 2019 Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship. The Review found that up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men.
Now in its fifth year, the Code report highlights lenders activity to support women-led businesses, including targeted funds, mentoring schemes, peer networking, business support and advice, and promoting positive role models and case studies.
NatWest established its Women in Business programme in 2003 and has supported significant levels of women entrepreneurs over the last 20 years. In 2012 NatWest established its Women in Business accreditation programme which now has over 1,000 Women in Business Specialists who are trained to understand the specific barriers women face and how they can support women entrepreneurs.
Lloyds have a dedicated website to support women-owned businesses providing access to networks, resources, support and programmes, such as ‘Start up-scale up’ a free online programme to get expert support in preparing for business growth. They have also sponsored The Lifted Project, a data and ecosystem-led approach to increase the flow of capital to regional, high-growth women founders. They have established regional growth boards in Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham and Scotland.
Barclays’ Women in Business proposition provides a wealth of programmes, coaching and mentoring, designed specifically to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs. Specialist coaching provides free, personalised coaching to support women with business planning, goal setting and skills. Barclays run a series of accelerators, networking and mentoring opportunities through Eagle Labs. All of this supports the ambition to help 250,000 women start, run and grow their business by the end of 2026 as part of Barclays’ commitments to the Investing in Women Code.
Lenders also use the annual data collection exercise to better understand the number of women-led businesses applying for finance, the amounts they apply for and the outcomes of their applications in comparison to male counterparts. Key findings included:
The proportion of women-led businesses has remained stable.
The proportion of business accounts held by female owners was unchanged from that reported in previous years. The proportion of total loan applications made by women-led businesses was also stable.
For loan approval rates, the data continues to show similar levels of success for women-led businesses compared with their male counterparts.
The average loan sought by women-led businesses was two-thirds of that sought by men-led businesses and just over a third of that sought by mixed-gender-owned businesses.
While securing debt finance remains more challenging for women-led businesses, industry signatories continue to develop and implement activities to support women-led businesses, including targeted funds, mentoring schemes, peer networking, business support and advice, and promoting positive role models and case studies of success.
About the Investing in Women Code
The Investing in Women Code is a commitment to support the advancement of women entrepreneurs in the UK by improving their access to the tools, resources and finance they need to achieve their goals.
As the first recommendation of the Rose Review, the Investing in Women Code (referred to as ‘the Code’) was launched in 2019. Its goal is to develop a better picture of funding for female entrepreneurs across the financial services, while encouraging signatories to adopt and share best practices to support women-led businesses.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT), together with the Code Partners, welcome feedback on this report and the future evolution of the Code, which can be sent to investinginwomencode@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
10.07.25
Lily Ellis, Analyst, Commercial Finance, UK Finance
Jennifer Tankard, Principal, Commercial Finance, UK Finance
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