Disability Finance Code for Entrepreneurship

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)]

Entrepreneurship is crucial for growth and innovation in our economy.

We want to encourage anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur to access the resources they need to thrive, but it is clear from research to date that significant barriers continue to hold back certain populations, including disabled entrepreneurs, and this needs to change. Eighty-four per cent of disabled founders feel they do not have equal access to the same opportunities as non-disabled founders.

One of the key issues preventing disabled entrepreneurs from starting and scaling up is a lack of access to finance. We want to work collaboratively with the private sector, financial services and the wider community to ensure that we can address this. That is why we are today launching the disability finance code for entrepreneurship (DFCE), underlining the importance that we are placing on boosting entrepreneurship for all as part of our plans for economic growth.

The DFCE is intended to drive engagement between the disabled entrepreneur community and the financial services sector in the United Kingdom, to build stronger relationships between disabled businesses and the financial institutions that support them. The signatories to this code will open up opportunities for disabled entrepreneurs through committing to implementing inclusive design principles, sharing evidence, supporting disabled founders and increasing activity to support disabled representation.

By building these relationships and championing diversity, equity and inclusion, we can empower disabled entrepreneurs and boost the entrepreneurial landscape as a whole.

The code’s founding signatories include Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Barclays and HSBC UK. Current delivery partners include UK Finance, the British Business Bank and Small Business Britain.

[HCWS279]