Compare Invoice Finance Providers UK 2026

Market Invoice is an independent UK invoice finance comparison site that compares the top 10 active UK invoice finance providers across cost, advance rate, setup speed and sector fit.

The leading UK invoice finance providers in 2026 are Skipton Business Finance (building society backed, from £100k turnover), Close Brothers (bank-backed, individually priced), Ultimate Finance (advances up to 95% of invoice value, setup within one week), Bibby Financial Services (sector specialist, which describes itself as one of Europe's largest independent invoice finance providers), Aldermore (from £750k turnover), IGF Invoice Finance (bad credit / CCJs), and Hydr (startups, no minimum turnover). Market Invoice tracks 87 UK invoice finance providers; the table below covers 10 of the most widely used.

Source: Market Invoice analysis of our own 87-provider directory.

Prefer a category-by-category view? See the best invoice finance providers UK 2026, ranked by cost, speed, sector and business type.

What this page covers

This page covers

Side-by-side comparison of top 10 UK invoice finance providers across cost, advance, speed, contract, sector, and minimum turnover

Not covered here

Individual provider deep-dive reviews (see /providers/), interactive cost calculator (see /calculator/), industry-specific guides (see /industries/), best-of category pages (see /best/)

Top 10 UK Invoice Finance Providers Compared

Service charges shown are starting rates for each provider's lowest-risk client profile. Discount charge (Bank of England base rate 3.75% + 1-3% margin) is charged separately on the cash advanced.

Provider Type Min Turnover Advance Fee from Setup Best for
Close Brothers Merchant bank £750k Up to 90% Not published 5 days Bank-backed, £750k+
Skipton Business Finance Building society £100k Up to 90% Not published 5 days No-PG facilities
Ultimate Finance Independent Not published Up to 95% Quoted per facility Within 1 week High advance (up to 95%)
Bibby Financial Services Independent Not published Up to 85% Not published 5 days Sector specialist
Aldermore Challenger bank £750k Up to 90% Not published A few days to a few weeks Mid-market confidential discounting
Novuna Business Finance Bank-owned (Mitsubishi HC Capital) Not published Up to 90% Not published 1 to 3 days to funds Stable longer contracts
IGF Invoice Finance Independent £5m Up to 90% Bespoke 10 days ABL and turnaround cases
Hydr Fintech No min Up to 100% Flat fee per invoice Same day to 1 day Startups / day-one trading
Sonovate Fintech (recruitment) No min Up to 100% 2% to 4% blended 2 days Recruitment payroll
Time Finance Independent £250k Up to 90% Not published 7 days Mid-market multi-product (invoice + asset)

How to compare invoice finance providers in 5 steps

  1. Define your priority, cheapest cost, fastest setup, no personal guarantee, sector specialism, or startup acceptance. The "best" provider depends on which one matters most.
  2. Filter by minimum turnover, most providers require £50k+ annual turnover; Skipton and Aldermore want £100k+ and £750k+ respectively. Below £50k, look at selective providers (Hydr, Triver).
  3. Compare total cost, not headline rate, service charge plus discount charge plus arrangement fees plus minimum service charges. Always ask for a fully-loaded effective rate over 12 months; our guide to invoice finance costs shows how the stack builds up, and remember that confidential discounting is usually cheaper than factoring because you run your own collections.
  4. Get 3 quotes minimum, let each provider see the others' headline rates. Competing quotes usually improve on a single direct quote.
  5. Check the contract exit, minimum service period (3-6 months typical), notice period, refactoring fees on overdue invoices. The cheapest headline can become expensive if you outgrow it.

By specific need

Cheapest UK invoice finance

Most providers quote per facility: compare on total cost

Fastest setup invoice finance

Full facilities in around a week, single-invoice in a day

Best for small business

From £50k turnover, top 5 SME-focused providers

Best for bad credit / CCJs

Distressed and turnaround specialists

Eligibility & complex income matrix

Who funds you after a decline: CCJs, HMRC arrears, startups, concentration

Best confidential discounting

Customer-invisible facilities from £500k turnover

No personal guarantee

Providers offering no-PG facilities for low-risk profiles
AP

Adam Parker

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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Compare UK Invoice Finance Providers FAQ

How do you compare invoice finance providers in the UK?

Compare UK invoice finance providers across six criteria: service charge (most providers quote per facility; the indicative market range is 0.5-3% of invoice value), advance rate (70-95%), setup speed (3-10 days), sector specialism, contract terms (notice period, minimum service fee, personal guarantee policy), and minimum turnover (£50k-£500k). Get quotes from at least 3 providers and let each see the others' headline rates: lenders tend to sharpen their terms when they know they are being compared.

Which UK invoice finance provider has the lowest rates?

Neither Skipton Business Finance nor Close Brothers publishes a rate: both price each facility individually. Skipton requires £100k+ turnover and Close Brothers publishes a £750k minimum, so between £100k and £750k Skipton is the one of the two open to you. Discount charge (Bank of England base rate plus 1-3%) is charged separately on cash advanced, so 'cheapest' depends on advance utilisation, not just headline service rate.

Which UK invoice finance provider is fastest?

Close Brothers, Bibby, Skipton and Ultimate Finance set up full facilities in around one working week (Ultimate Finance says within one week, with up to 95% advance; Close Brothers, Bibby and Skipton typically take 5 days). Aldermore quotes anything from a few days to a few weeks. Fintechs (Hydr, Triver) advertise same-day in-principle decisions but require signed paperwork before funds release, so realistic end-to-end is 24-72 hours.

Which provider should I choose for bad credit or CCJs?

IGF Invoice Finance specialises in distressed and turnaround facilities, accepting CCJs, defaults and adverse company credit history. Invoice finance is fundamentally secured against your debtors, not your business credit, so the underwriting question is whether your customers will pay. IGF, Reward Finance Group and several independent factors regularly approve businesses that high street banks decline.

Which UK provider is best for recruitment agencies?

Sonovate is the leading UK recruitment specialist with integrated payroll, weekly invoicing fluency, timesheet processing, and up to 100% advance on contractor invoices. Bibby Financial Services has a dedicated recruitment team. For NHS supplier and care-sector recruitment, all major providers compete because debtor quality is uniformly strong.

Which UK provider is best for construction and trades?

Bibby Financial Services has a dedicated construction team that handles the sector-specific complications (stage payments, applications for payment, retentions, contra charges). Close Brothers also has specialist construction underwriters. For sub-contractors with high retention, IGF and Reward Finance are more flexible than the bank-owned providers.

Are these UK invoice finance providers regulated by the FCA?

Invoice finance for limited companies is not a regulated activity in the UK because it falls outside the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 for business lending. Most named providers on this list are not FCA-authorised for invoice finance specifically. Some (HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Aldermore) hold FCA authorisations for other regulated products. Sole-trader and partnership invoice finance is occasionally treated as regulated lending, check the FCA Register if you trade as a sole trader.

How does Market Invoice rank these providers?

Market Invoice is operated by Best Business Loans Ltd (company number 16833937) as an independent comparison service. We assess all 87 UK invoice finance providers across six criteria using publicly disclosed rates and direct provider research. We are paid a fixed fee by our introduction partner for each business we introduce, but a provider that pays nothing appears in the same rankings with the same methodology as one that pays a fee. Editorial rankings are not influenced by commercial relationships.