What this page covers
This page covers
Complete UK invoice finance market report covering cost analysis by provider type, speed of setup distribution, industry breakdown, advance rate analysis, provider concentration, and methodology
Not covered here
Individual provider review pages, step-by-step guides on how invoice finance works, cost calculators
The market at a glance
| Measure | Figure | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance provided by UK Finance invoice finance and asset-based lending members at any one time | Well over £20 billion | UK Finance | October 2026 |
| Finance provided per year by those members | Around £150 billion | UK Finance | October 2026 |
| Combined turnover of client businesses, 2024 | Over £315 billion | UK Finance | October 2026 |
| Number of client businesses | Tens of thousands (no exact number published) | UK Finance | October 2026 |
| Bank of England Bank Rate | 3.75%, effective 18 December 2025 | Bank of England | 16 October 2026 |
| UK invoice finance providers trading, of those we list | 76 of 83 | Market Invoice directory | At each site build |
| Providers with full published terms in our dataset | 27 | Market Invoice Rate Index | At each site build |
UK Finance does not date the £20 billion and £150 billion figures on its page; only the turnover figure is given a year (2024).
Cost Analysis
Most providers do not publish a service charge. None of the mainstream direct lenders in our dataset of 27 (Time Finance, Skipton, Close Brothers, the high street banks, Bibby, Ultimate Finance and Aldermore) publishes one; each agrees it per facility. As an indicative market range, not any provider's price, UK commercial finance broker ABC Finance says service charges usually fall between 0.5% and 3% of invoice value (checked 25 September 2026). Each provider's figure and its source are in the Rate Index.
The table shows what each lender publishes on its own website. None of the 18 publishes a service charge percentage.
| Lender | Type | Advance rate | Minimum turnover | Service charge | Advertised setup | Figures checked against lender's own page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bibby Financial Services | Independent | Up to 85% | Not published | Not published | Not published | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| Close Brothers Invoice Finance | Independent | Up to 90% | £750k | Not published | Not published | 14 October 2026, confirmed |
| Ultimate Finance | Independent | Up to 95% | Not published | Not published | Within one week | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| Aldermore Invoice Finance | Independent | Up to 90% | £750k | Not published | A few days to a few weeks | 14 October 2026, confirmed |
| Skipton Business Finance | Independent | Up to 90% | Not published | Not published | Not published | 14 October 2026, confirmed |
| IGF (Independent Growth Finance) | Independent | Up to 90% (receivables); stock up to 85%, plant up to 75% | £5m | Negotiated per facility, not published | Not published | 14 October 2026, confirmed |
| Novuna Business Finance | Independent | Up to 90% | Not published | Not published | 1 to 3 working days to funds | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance | High street bank | Up to 90% | £100k | Not published | Not published | 13 October 2026, confirmed |
| HSBC Invoice Finance | High street bank | Up to 95% | £1m | Not published | Not published | 13 October 2026, confirmed |
| Barclays Invoice Finance | High street bank | Up to 90% | Not published | Not published | Not published | 13 October 2026, confirmed |
| NatWest Invoice Finance | High street bank | Up to 90% | £300k | Not published | Not published | 13 October 2026, confirmed |
| Santander Invoice Finance | High street bank | Up to 90% | Not published | Not published | Not published | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| Sonovate | Recruitment specialist | Up to 100% | No minimum | Not published | 2 working days | 13 October 2026, confirmed |
| Time Finance | Independent | Up to 90% | Not published | Not published | Not published | 14 October 2026, confirmed |
| eCapital | Independent | Up to 90% | Not published | Not published | Not published | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| White Oak (UK) | Independent | Up to 90% | £1m | Negotiated per facility, not published | 5 to 10 working days | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| Hydr | Fintech | Up to 100% per invoice | No minimum | Flat fee per invoice (no figure in our dataset) | Same day to 1 working day | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
| SME Invoice Finance | Independent | Up to 95% | £100k | Negotiated per facility, not published | 5 to 10 working days | 1 October 2026, confirmed |
Direct invoice finance lenders in the Market Invoice terms dataset only. Brokers and marketplaces and entries that are not invoice finance are left out. Figures as published by each lender; we did not obtain quotes.
| Summary | Value |
|---|---|
| Lenders publishing a service charge figure | 0 of 18 (Hydr charges a flat fee per invoice; no figure is in our dataset) |
| Highest published advance | Up to 100% per invoice (Sonovate and Hydr); up to 95% (Ultimate Finance, HSBC Invoice Finance and SME Invoice Finance) |
| Most common published advance | Up to 90% (12 of 18) |
| Lowest published advance cap | Up to 85% (Bibby Financial Services) |
| Lenders publishing a minimum turnover | 8 of 18 (£100k to £5m); 2 states no minimum (Sonovate and Hydr); 8 publish none |
Speed of Setup
Across the 6 direct lenders that publish a setup time, the average advertised setup is 4.2 working days: none of the high street banks we list publishes a setup time, so all of these are independents and fintech lenders. Hydr is fastest, at same day to 1 working day. These are each lender's own advertised times, not timed by us.
| Group | Lenders with a published setup time | Average advertised setup (working days) | Fastest | Slowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All direct lenders | 6 | 4.2 | Hydr: same day to 1 working day | White Oak (UK) and SME Invoice Finance: 5 to 10 working days |
Advertised by each lender, not independently timed. Ranges are taken at their midpoint. Left out because no number is published: Bibby Financial Services ("not published"), Close Brothers Invoice Finance ("not published"), Aldermore Invoice Finance ("a few days to a few weeks"), Skipton Business Finance ("not published"), IGF (Independent Growth Finance) ("not published"), Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance ("not published"), HSBC Invoice Finance ("not published"), Barclays Invoice Finance ("not published"), NatWest Invoice Finance ("not published"), Santander Invoice Finance ("not published"), Time Finance ("not published") and eCapital ("not published"). Direct lenders only, the same 18 as the terms table above.
Market by Industry
Recruitment, manufacturing, transport, construction and wholesale are among the main users of invoice finance in the UK. No public source publishes a current per-sector split of lending, so we do not quote sector volumes or shares. What we can show is how long large companies in each sector take to pay their suppliers, from the government's payment practices reports. Long payment times are the main reason businesses use invoice finance.
| Sector | Reports | Median days to pay | Share of invoices paid within 30 days | Share paid later than agreed terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 1,691 | 45 | 36.8% | 28.3% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 1,415 | 37 | 48.2% | 22.6% |
| Water supply, sewerage and waste | 86 | 37 | 49.2% | 26.1% |
| Transportation and storage | 400 | 35 | 52.7% | 20.2% |
| Accommodation and food service | 232 | 34 | 54.9% | 16.8% |
| Construction | 646 | 33 | 53.9% | 18.4% |
| Mining and quarrying | 181 | 32 | 59.5% | 22.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 65 | 32 | 57.4% | 21.2% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 836 | 31 | 62.3% | 22.2% |
| Other service activities | 187 | 31 | 62.4% | 21.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 128 | 30.5 | 62.9% | 18.4% |
| Information and communication | 800 | 29 | 66.8% | 24.0% |
| Real estate activities | 109 | 28 | 68.9% | 23.5% |
| Administrative and support services | 1,015 | 27 | 67.3% | 19.7% |
| Electricity, gas and air conditioning | 248 | 26 | 71.3% | 14.6% |
| Human health and social work | 209 | 25 | 72.5% | 16.2% |
| Education | 544 | 25 | 79.6% | 18.8% |
| Financial and insurance activities | 1,100 | 21 | 79.3% | 18.5% |
| All sectors | 9,914 mapped (10,285 in window) | 32 |
This is payment behaviour, not lending: it shows how large companies pay their suppliers (statutory reporting covers large companies only). It is not a split of invoice finance lending by sector, which nobody publishes. Reporting periods ending 14 October 2025 to 14 October 2026. The two share columns are averages of each company's reported percentages. Sectors with fewer than 50 reports (22 reports in all) are left out. Source: DBT Payment Practices export, joined to SIC sectors via the Companies House register snapshot of 1 October 2026, both Open Government Licence v3.0. Full table: UK days to pay by sector.
Advance Rate Analysis
Advance rates - the percentage of invoice value you receive upfront - vary significantly:
- Highest published by a direct lender: up to 100% per invoice (Hydr, on single invoices); up to 95% (Ultimate Finance, HSBC and SME Invoice Finance)
- Most common published figure: up to 90% (Close Brothers, Aldermore, Skipton, Lloyds, NatWest and others)
- Lower caps: Bibby publishes up to 85%. Construction and some confidential facilities usually advance less, because retentions, variations and reduced control over collections add risk
- Recruitment funding: funders such as Sonovate advertise up to 100% on a different model
Provider Concentration
No public source publishes current market shares by provider or provider type, so we do not estimate one. The bank-owned providers are Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, NatWest and Close Brothers; independents and specialists include Bibby, Ultimate Finance, Skipton Business Finance, IGF and Novuna. In February 2021 Barclays agreed to transfer its factoring portfolio to the independent 4Syte (source).
Our directory lists 83 providers, of which 76 are trading:
| Provider type | Listed | Trading | No longer trading | Who is not trading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banks and bank-backed | 23 | 22 | 1 | Virgin Money: Not taking new invoice finance customers |
| Large independents | 12 | 9 | 3 | Nucleus Commercial Finance: no longer lists an invoice finance product (checked September 2026); Regency Factors: in administration (June 2026); Reward Finance Group: Not taking new invoice finance customers: its website no longer lists invoice finance |
| Mid-size and regional | 34 | 31 | 3 | Apollo Finance: acquired by Team Factors; Calverton Finance: merged into Pulse Finance; Optimum Finance: acquired by eCapital |
| Recruitment specialists | 6 | 6 | 0 | |
| Fintech and digital | 8 | 8 | 0 | |
| Total | 83 | 76 | 7 |
These are the providers Market Invoice lists in its directory, not an official census; the group labels are ours.
No one publishes market shares, but new debentures at Companies House show who is writing new facilities:
| Lender type | May 2026 | June 2026 | July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banks and bank-backed | 97 (19.4%) | 87 (15.2%) | 97 (19.9%) |
| Large independents | 158 (31.6%) | 171 (29.9%) | 175 (35.9%) |
| Mid-market independents | 83 (16.6%) | 101 (17.7%) | 76 (15.6%) |
| Specialists | 23 (4.6%) | 36 (6.3%) | 23 (4.7%) |
| Not yet classified | 139 (27.8%) | 177 (30.9%) | 117 (24.0%) |
| Total new debentures | 500 | 572 | 488 |
Count (share of the month's total). A debenture is a proxy for a new facility, not a count of facilities or of lending value. The scan covers a curated list of invoice finance lenders, not the full register. Chargees we have not yet classified are shown separately and are not counted as independents. Months from May 2026, when our capture became complete, using the Companies House charge date. Data: Companies House (Open Government Licence v3.0), aggregation CC BY 4.0. Per-lender figures: UK Invoice Finance Lender Index 2026.
2026 Forecast and Outlook
Two structural shifts are reshaping the UK invoice finance market through 2026:
1. Banks focus on larger facilities
Barclays transferred its factoring portfolio to 4Syte in 2021. Published bank minimums in our dataset run from £100,000 (Lloyds) to £300,000 (NatWest) and £1m (HSBC). Independent providers (Bibby, Close Brothers, Ultimate Finance, Skipton) and challenger banks are the operational core of this segment in 2026.
2. Routes for smaller businesses
Some newer and specialist providers state no fixed minimum turnover (Sonovate, for example, in our dataset), while traditional whole-ledger facilities usually start somewhere between £50,000 and £1m depending on the provider. Selective and single-invoice products are the usual route for the smallest businesses.
Methodology
This report draws on the 83 UK invoice finance providers we list (76 trading) and the published terms of 18 direct lenders. Data sources:
- Each lender's own published terms, read from its website (latest check 14 October 2026)
- Companies House charges data, for new invoice finance debentures by lender (from May 2026)
- DBT Payment Practices export, for supplier payment times by sector (reporting periods ending 14 October 2025 to 14 October 2026)
- UK Finance: Invoice Finance and Asset-Based Lending (well over £20 billion provided at any one time; client turnover over £315 billion in 2024; checked September 2026)
- UK Finance (which took in the Asset Based Finance Association in 2017), industry standards and statistics
- Companies House filings for provider financial health and trading status
- FCA Register for regulated permissions
- Bank of England base rate (3.75%, effective 18 December 2025)
- FSB late payment research
- DBT Business Population Estimates
- ABC Finance invoice finance guide, for the indicative 0.5% to 3% service charge market range (a broker's published statement, not a provider price; checked 25 September 2026)
Provider terms come from the Market Invoice provider dataset; the UK Invoice Finance Rate Index shows each figure with its source. For methodology details, see our about page and editorial policy.
UK Invoice Finance Market Report, FAQ
How big is the UK invoice finance market in 2026?
UK Finance says its invoice finance and asset-based lending members provide well over £20 billion to UK businesses at any one time, and that client businesses had combined turnover of over £315 billion in 2024. That finance goes to tens of thousands of UK client businesses, and UK Finance puts annual finance provided at around £150 billion. Source: UK Finance, Invoice Finance and Asset-Based Lending (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/our-expertise/commercial-finance/invoice-finance-and-asset-based-lending).
Who are the largest UK invoice finance providers in 2026?
No public source publishes current market shares by provider, so we do not rank them by size. The bank-owned providers are Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, NatWest and Close Brothers (which prices each agreement individually). Independents and specialists serving SMEs include Bibby Financial Services (sector specialists), Ultimate Finance (advances up to 95%), Skipton Business Finance (building society backed, no published minimum) and IGF (larger asset-based facilities).
What service charge do UK invoice finance providers charge in 2026?
Most providers do not publish a service charge. None of the mainstream direct lenders in our dataset of 27 (Time Finance, Skipton, Close Brothers, the high street banks, Bibby, Ultimate Finance and Aldermore) publishes one; each agrees it per facility. As an indicative market range, not any provider's price: ABC Finance, a UK commercial finance broker, says service charges usually fall between 0.5% and 3% of invoice value.
How quickly can a UK business get invoice finance set up?
Across the 6 direct invoice finance lenders in our dataset that publish a setup time, the average advertised setup is 4.2 working days, taken from each lender's own published terms. None of the high street banks we list publishes a setup time. Fastest is Hydr, at same day to 1 working day.
What advance rate is typical on a UK invoice finance facility in 2026?
Most direct lenders in our dataset publish advances of up to 90%. Ultimate Finance, HSBC and SME Invoice Finance publish up to 95%, Hydr advances up to 100% on single invoices, and Bibby publishes up to 85%. Recruitment funders such as Sonovate advertise up to 100% on a different model. Expect a lower advance in construction, where retentions and variations add risk, and on some confidential facilities.
How is the UK invoice finance market evolving in 2026?
Two structural shifts in 2026: (1) Banks stepping back from small-ticket factoring: Barclays agreed in February 2021 to transfer its factoring portfolio to 4Syte, leaving more of the smallest facilities with independents; (2) Bank of England base rate at 3.75% (December 2025) means total cost of finance remains higher than 2020-22 lows but providers are competing on margin and service rather than headline rate.
What sectors use the most invoice finance in the UK?
Recruitment, manufacturing, transport, construction and wholesale are among the main users of invoice finance in the UK. No public source publishes a current per-sector split of lending, so we do not quote sector volumes or shares.
Is the Market Invoice market report independent?
Yes. Market Invoice is operated by Best Business Loans Ltd (company 16833937), an independent comparison site launched 2026. It is not connected to Kriya, Allica Bank or any lender. Our figures come from lenders' own published terms, UK Finance, ABFA, Companies House and FCA register data. The fixed introduction fee Market Invoice receives from its introduction partner, a UK invoice finance provider, does not influence the underlying market data presented in this report.
Citation format: Market Invoice (2026). UK Invoice Finance Market Report 2026: Providers, Terms and New Facilities. Best Business Loans Ltd. Available at: https://marketinvoice.co.uk/research/. Accessed [date].
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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