UK SME credit monitor

What the two indicators measure

Bank Rate is a policy rate and provides context for pricing. A lender may quote a margin over a particular benchmark or agree a fixed rate. Enter the interest basis in your facility comparison.

The lending series measures a stock outstanding at month end. It covers monetary financial institutions’ lending in sterling and other currencies to small and medium-sized enterprises, including reverse repos and excluding overdrafts. It is reported in sterling millions without seasonal adjustment. Repayments, drawdowns and changes in reporting coverage can all affect a balance. Read its footnotes before interpreting differences between months.

Quarterly reading for the third quarter of 2026

In the Bank of England’s October release, lenders reported that credit became harder to obtain for small and medium-sized businesses in the three months to the end of August. The overall corporate measure was broadly unchanged. The difference matters for a smaller borrower planning its timetable. An overall figure can conceal conditions in its own size group.

The survey records lenders’ views of change during a specified period. Its forward-looking questions ask about expectations. These are distinct from later realised outcomes. Its percentage balances are different from the former CreditSquare indices, which used a different scale and methodology.

Sources and reuse

Data from the Bank of England Database are published under the UK Open Government Licence v3.0, subject to the Bank's source-specific exceptions. The API below the charts provides the same public observations with dates, units and attribution. The quarterly commentary is an editorial reading of the published survey.