State of UK Invoice Finance 2026
UK Finance says its invoice finance and asset-based lending members provide well over £20 billion to tens of thousands of UK businesses at any one time. None of the five high street banks we track publishes an invoice finance service charge (each is quoted per facility), the Bank of England base rate sits at 3.75%, and large businesses took a median of 32 days to pay their suppliers, with manufacturing the slowest sector at 45 days. The year's biggest regulatory development, a proposed 60-day cap on business-to-business payment terms, was confirmed in March 2026 but is not yet law.
Compiled by Market Invoice
2026 at a glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice finance and asset-based lending provided by UK Finance members at any one time | Well over £20bn | UK Finance |
| Client businesses supported by UK Finance IF/ABL members at any one time | Tens of thousands | UK Finance |
| Invoice finance and ABL provided per year by UK Finance members | Around £150bn | UK Finance |
| Combined annual turnover of businesses supported (2024) | Over £315bn | UK Finance |
| UK median days to pay across all sectors | 32 days | Our own analysis of statutory Payment Practices Reporting |
| Slowest-paying sector: Manufacturing | 45 days median | Our own analysis of statutory Payment Practices Reporting |
| Fastest-paying sector: Financial and insurance activities | 21 days median | Our own analysis of statutory Payment Practices Reporting |
| High street bank service charge (published by 0 of 5 tracked banks) | Not published | Our own provider rate index |
| Bank of England base rate | 3.75% (since 18 Dec 2025) | Bank of England |
| Proposed statutory payment terms cap (not yet in force) | 60 days, no earlier than 2027 | UK government late payment consultation response |
Source: Market Invoice, compiled from UK Finance, Bank of England, gov.uk and our own datasets (CC BY 4.0)
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### State of UK Invoice Finance 2026: key figures | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Invoice finance and asset-based lending provided by UK Finance members at any one time | Well over £20bn | UK Finance | | Client businesses supported by UK Finance IF/ABL members at any one time | Tens of thousands | UK Finance | | Invoice finance and ABL provided per year by UK Finance members | Around £150bn | UK Finance | | Combined annual turnover of businesses supported (2024) | Over £315bn | UK Finance | | UK median days to pay across all sectors | 32 days | Our own analysis of statutory Payment Practices Reporting | | Slowest-paying sector: Manufacturing | 45 days median | Our own analysis of statutory Payment Practices Reporting | | Fastest-paying sector: Financial and insurance activities | 21 days median | Our own analysis of statutory Payment Practices Reporting | | High street bank service charge (published by 0 of 5 tracked banks) | Not published | Our own provider rate index | | Bank of England base rate | 3.75% (since 18 Dec 2025) | Bank of England | | Proposed statutory payment terms cap (not yet in force) | 60 days, no earlier than 2027 | UK government late payment consultation response | Source: Market Invoice, compiled from UK Finance, Bank of England, gov.uk and our own datasets (CC BY 4.0)
- Invoice finance and asset-based lending provided by UK Finance members at any one time: full data and methodology
- Client businesses supported by UK Finance IF/ABL members at any one time: full data and methodology
- Invoice finance and ABL provided per year by UK Finance members: full data and methodology
- Combined annual turnover of businesses supported (2024): full data and methodology
- UK median days to pay across all sectors: full data and methodology
- Slowest-paying sector: Manufacturing: full data and methodology
- Fastest-paying sector: Financial and insurance activities: full data and methodology
- High street bank service charge (published by 0 of 5 tracked banks): full data and methodology
- Bank of England base rate: full data and methodology
- Proposed statutory payment terms cap (not yet in force): full data and methodology
Methodology
This snapshot compiles figures already published, either on this site or by UK Finance, the Bank of England and gov.uk directly, into one referenceable document for the year. It does not introduce new data of its own; every figure links through to where it is computed or sourced, so it can be checked against the underlying dataset rather than taken on trust from this page alone. It will be refreshed, not rewritten, each year as the underlying datasets update.
This dataset is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You may reuse it with attribution to Market Invoice (marketinvoice.co.uk).
Cite this page
To reference this snapshot, please credit MarketInvoice and link to this page:
Source: MarketInvoice, State of UK Invoice Finance 2026, https://marketinvoice.co.uk/data/state-of-uk-invoice-finance-2026/ (accessed 2026-09-24).
Founder & Managing Director, Muswell Rose, founder and PSC of Best Business Loans Ltd
Adam is the founder and managing director of Muswell Rose and a founder of Best Business Loans Ltd, the company behind Market Invoice. He spent over three years as managing director of Penny, a UK invoice finance business, and his career runs through insurance, mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending. He writes the Market Invoice library.
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