For a UK clinic, realistic funding means your own savings, a government-backed Start Up Loan (£500 to £25,000 per founder, now 7.5% fixed for new applications since 6 April 2026), a bank loan or overdraft, or money from family. The health innovation grants that fill most funding lists, such as Innovate UK's Biomedical Catalyst and the NIHR's i4i programme, fund product development and are not open to a clinic delivering treatment.
That is a shorter list than the listicles suggest, and for most practitioners it is enough. A solo practice can start with under £1,000 of fixed costs, as our year-one cost breakdown shows. The thing that needs funding is usually not equipment. It is your income while the diary fills.
How much do you need to borrow?
Probably less than you think, and possibly nothing.
Work it out in two parts. The setup costs are registration, indemnity, the ICO fee, a few months of room hire and some kit. The runway is what you live on until the practice pays you. The second number is nearly always bigger, and it is the one people forget to fund. Our guide to working capital before you open walks through a month-by-month example.
Borrowing for a gap you could close by staying part-employed for six months is an expensive way to buy time. Keep that option on the table before you sign anything.
What is a Start Up Loan and is it worth it?
A Start Up Loan is a government-backed, unsecured loan run by the British Business Bank. It is the one scheme designed for exactly this situation: a new business with no trading record.
| Feature | Start Up Loans, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Amount | £500 to £25,000 per founder |
| Maximum per business | £100,000, with up to four founders borrowing separately |
| Interest | 7.5% fixed for applications from 6 April 2026 (previously 6%) |
| Term | 1 to 5 years |
| Security | Unsecured, no guarantor |
| Fees | None for arrangement or early repayment |
| Eligibility | 18 or over, UK-based, preparing to start or trading for up to 60 months |
| Extras | Free mentoring in the first 12 months |
Two changes on 6 April 2026 matter. The rate went up from 6% to 7.5%, so any guide quoting 6% is out of date. And eligibility widened from businesses trading up to 36 months to those trading up to 60 months. If you have been seeing private patients part-time for three or four years alongside an NHS post, you can still apply.
It is a personal loan. The money is lent to you, not to your company, so you remain liable for it if the practice closes. That makes the limited company structure irrelevant to this particular debt.
What it costs, on a fixed rate with equal monthly repayments:
| Borrow | Term | Monthly repayment | Total interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | 3 years | £155.53 | £599 |
| £10,000 | 5 years | £200.38 | £2,023 |
| £25,000 | 5 years | £500.95 | £5,057 |
For comparison, the same £10,000 over five years at the old 6% rate cost £193.33 a month and £1,600 in interest. The rise adds about £7 a month.
The application asks for a business plan, a 12-month cash flow forecast and a personal survival budget showing what you need to live on. That last document is the most useful thing in the process even if you never draw the loan. Approval typically takes a few weeks for a complete application.
What does the application actually ask for?
Most practitioners stall here, because they have never written a business plan and assume it needs to be impressive. It does not. It needs to be honest and arithmetically consistent.
Start Up Loans runs the application in five stages: an eligibility check on your business and your planned use of the money, registration including any state aid received in the past 36 months, residential information used to match you to a Business Support Partner, a personal credit check that also assesses affordability, and finally your business information, which you upload to an online portal and discuss with an assigned adviser.
Three documents do the real work, and the scheme publishes a free template for each.
| Document | What it is used for |
|---|---|
| Business plan | The adviser's assessment of whether the practice is a business, not an intention |
| Cash flow forecast | Assessing the strength and viability of the business |
| Personal survival budget | Assessing whether you can afford the repayments |
Alongside those, expect to supply proof of identity, proof of address, proof of a personal bank account and three months of personal bank statements. You do not need to be registered with Companies House or HMRC before you apply.
One practical timing point. The credit check is valid for 90 days from the date it is completed, so finish the remaining stages inside that window rather than starting the paperwork and leaving it. Our guide to building a cash flow forecast for a clinic covers the middle document, which is the one most applicants find hardest, and free business support lists the advisers who will read a draft plan for nothing.
What will stop an application?
Worth knowing before you spend a weekend on a business plan, because some of these are absolute rather than a matter of judgement.
Things that rule you out entirely. You cannot be supported while you are filing for or currently bankrupt, while you have an outstanding Debt Relief Order, or while you have an outstanding Individual Voluntary Arrangement or Trust Deed. Debt Management Programmes and Debt Arrangement Schemes also rule you out, and a Debt Management Plan has to be repaid in full before you apply. Some visa types are excluded, and the loan must be fully repaid at least six months before a visa expires.
Things that are assessed rather than fatal. Poor credit history is not an automatic refusal, but a full personal credit check is carried out and the scheme will not lend where doing so would increase your existing indebtedness. There is also an eligibility criterion that catches people out because it sounds odd: you have to be unable to get finance from other sources, which is a self-declaration rather than a document trail.
Things the loan cannot be spent on. The scheme describes the money as financing the initial costs of starting and developing a business, and specifically excludes repaying existing debt, training, qualifications or education programmes, and investments that are not part of an ongoing sustainable business.
That third exclusion matters more to clinicians than to most applicants. A Start Up Loan will not fund a postgraduate certificate, an acupuncture course or a manual therapy qualification, however directly it feeds the practice. Nor will it clear a credit card you used to buy a plinth. And because the money is lent to finance the business, be straight with your adviser about how much of it is really there to cover your drawings while the diary fills, rather than assuming the survival budget settles the question. Ask them; it is their decision, not an internet one.
Why can't a clinic get the health innovation grants?
Because they fund the development of new products, not the delivery of a service. This is where most funding lists go wrong.
Innovate UK's Biomedical Catalyst funds UK small and medium-sized enterprises developing innovative solutions to health and healthcare challenges. Its 2025 small-project competition asked for grants of £150,000 to £500,000; large projects requested £500,000 to £2 million. You apply with a research and development project, milestones and a route to market for something new.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme funds medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and digital health technologies. Its April 2026 FAST call offered £50,000 to £100,000 for technology already at technology readiness level 5. i4i Connect offers £50,000 to £150,000 for small companies preparing for a full Product Development Award, which has no upper funding limit.
Neither will fund a treatment room, a plinth, a website or your living costs while you build a caseload. Treating patients well is not an innovation project in their terms. If you are genuinely building a device or an app alongside your practice, those schemes may be worth a look for that product. For the clinic itself, they are a waste of an afternoon.
Are there local grants for new businesses?
Sometimes, but they are smaller and patchier than the lists imply, and 2026 made them patchier still.
Many council start-up grants of recent years were paid for by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which funded local investment until March 2026. A typical 2025/26 scheme offered a few thousand pounds and required the business to match part of it. That fund has now ended. Its replacement, the Local Growth Fund, was allocated first to 11 mayoral strategic authorities in England, with separate allocations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Grant lists written in 2025 often still point to schemes that have closed.
The honest route is to ask your local Growth Hub (England), Business Gateway (Scotland), Business Wales or your council what is open this quarter, and to treat anything you get as a bonus rather than a plan. Expect grants to be for specific things, such as equipment or a website, and to be paid after you have spent the money.
What about banks, family and equipment finance?
Bank loans and overdrafts. Banks lend to new businesses, but without trading history they lean on your personal finances and often ask for a personal guarantee. An agreed overdraft can be a sensible safety net for lumpy months. It is a poor way to fund a long ramp-up because the rate is usually variable and the facility can be withdrawn.
Family. Cheap and fast, and the one most likely to damage something more important than the business. Write it down: the amount, whether interest is payable, the repayment schedule, and what happens if the practice closes. A one-page signed agreement protects the relationship more than it protects the money.
Equipment finance. Leasing or hire purchase spreads the cost of an expensive device over its working life. It is a tool for buying a specific asset, not for funding a start-up, and most new practices do not need anything costly enough to justify it.
Credit cards. Not for this. The rate is wrong and the repayment structure encourages drift.
Which option fits which practitioner?
| Situation | Most sensible route |
|---|---|
| Solo, mobile or hiring rooms by the hour, still part-employed | Savings. You may need nothing else |
| Leaving employment fully, needs 3 to 6 months of runway | Savings plus a Start Up Loan sized to the gap |
| Two founders opening a small clinic together | A Start Up Loan each, plus savings |
| Expensive diagnostic or therapy device | Equipment finance for the device, not the business |
| Building a medical device or app as well as a clinic | Innovation grants for the product only |
Where software fits
The cheapest funding is the money you do not spend. Practice software is one cost you can defer: Atlacare's Free plan has no time limit and covers one practitioner and 20 patients, with online booking and clinical notes, so the first months of a new practice do not need a software budget at all. Solo is £25 a month when you outgrow it.
The short version
For a clinic, the realistic list is savings, a Start Up Loan, a bank, and family. Start Up Loans lend £500 to £25,000 per founder, unsecured, at 7.5% fixed since 6 April 2026, to businesses trading up to five years. It is a personal loan.
Ignore the Biomedical Catalyst and NIHR i4i unless you are building a product. Treat local grants as a bonus, especially now the UK Shared Prosperity Fund has ended. Fund the runway, not the kit, and borrow only the gap you cannot close by staying part-employed.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a grant to start a physiotherapy clinic?
Rarely, and not from the national health innovation schemes. Local councils and Growth Hubs sometimes run small, match-funded grants for new businesses, but availability changed after the UK Shared Prosperity Fund ended in March 2026. Ask locally what is open now.
Does a Start Up Loan affect my credit file?
It is a personal loan, so the application involves a credit check and the loan sits in your name. Missed repayments affect you personally, whatever your business structure.
Can I get a Start Up Loan if I already see private patients part-time?
Yes, if your business has been trading for no more than 60 months. That limit was 36 months until 6 April 2026.
Is it better to borrow or wait and save?
If waiting means staying part-employed while you build a caseload, waiting is usually cheaper and less risky. Borrow when the gap is short, known, and you have a realistic plan to fill the diary.
Can I claim the loan interest against tax?
Interest on borrowing used wholly and exclusively for the business is an allowable expense. The old £500 annual cap on interest deductions under the cash basis was removed from the 2024/25 tax year, so sole traders on the cash basis can now deduct the full amount. The capital repayments are never deductible.
Can I use a Start Up Loan to fund a postgraduate qualification?
No. The scheme excludes training, qualifications and education programmes from what the money can be spent on. Course fees that are genuinely for the business may still be an allowable expense against profits, which is a separate question for an accountant.
My practice is a limited company. How does a personal Start Up Loan reach it?
Usually as a director's loan to the company, which the company can repay to you later. That creates a balance to track and gets the accounting treatment wrong easily, so agree the mechanism with your accountant before the money moves. Our guide to paying yourself from a private practice covers director's loan accounts.
General information, not financial advice. Loan terms and grant availability are as published at 2 October 2026 and change regularly. Repayment figures are calculated on a standard fixed-rate amortising basis and are illustrative; check the lender's own quote.
Sources: Start Up Loans, changes to interest rate and eligibility · Innovate UK, Biomedical Catalyst 2025 competition · NIHR, i4i FAST April 2026 · House of Commons Library, local growth funds · Start Up Loans, how to apply · Start Up Loans, am I eligible · GOV.UK, expanding the cash basis
Related: What does it actually cost to set up a private practice in year one? · How much working capital do you need before you open? · Sole trader or limited company? · How many patients a week do I need to replace my NHS salary?
