Grant and Growth Guarantee Solar Finance: Subsidy Limits
6 min read · Updated 2026-10-14 · Grants and funding
Can you stack a grant on a Growth Guarantee Scheme solar facility? How the £315,000 subsidy limit works, what counts against it and what you must declare.
Quick answer: In principle yes, but the two interact. A Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) facility is itself treated as a subsidy. For a business outside the scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol it counts as Minimal Financial Assistance under the UK Subsidy Control Act, with a ceiling of £315,000 of subsidy through GGS over three fiscal years. Other relevant subsidies received in the same period, including local authority grants, count against the same ceiling, and you must declare them to the lender in writing. The subsidy is not the amount you borrow; the lender tells you its value.
If you are putting a solar system on finance and a regional grant is also on offer, it is natural to ask whether you can have both. The honest answer has two halves. The tax half is covered in our post on whether a grant reduces the capital allowances on solar panels. The subsidy-control half is the one most explainers skip, and it is what this post covers. The figures come from the British Business Bank’s published Growth Guarantee Scheme pages, read on 14 October 2026.
Why a loan guarantee counts as a subsidy
The Bank’s explanation is that facilities under the scheme are supported by the government and give an advantage to the business that receives them, so they are subsidies, even though the business stays liable to repay 100% of the debt. UK law governs subsidies. For a business outside the scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a GGS facility is Minimal Financial Assistance under the Subsidy Control Act; for a business in scope of the Protocol, the EU’s de minimis rules apply instead, with different thresholds.
The limit, and what it is measured in
For a business outside the scope of the Protocol, the maximum subsidy that can be paid to a borrower, or to its group, through GGS over a period of three fiscal years is £315,000. Three points matter for how you read that.
- It is a subsidy limit, not a borrowing limit. The Bank is explicit that the amount of the subsidy and the amount the business proposes to borrow are different. The lender tells the business the value of the subsidy in a new facility. The facility ceiling is a separate matter: generally up to £2m per business group.
- It covers a rolling three fiscal years. A fiscal year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and the three-year period is the current fiscal year and the two before it.
- It applies to the group. If your business is part of a group, the group’s subsidies count, not just your company’s. The lender can help if you are unsure what counts as a group.
What counts against it
The Bank publishes a non-exhaustive list of common support and says whether each item is relevant to the calculation. Only subsidies received within the applicable three-year period matter.
| Counts against the allowance | Does not count |
|---|---|
| Recovery Loan Scheme facilities offered from 1 August 2022 | Recovery Loan Scheme facilities offered from 6 April 2021 to 30 June 2022 |
| Growth Guarantee Scheme facilities offered from 1 July 2024 | CBILS and CLBILS |
| Enterprise Finance Guarantee | Facilities supported by UK Export Finance |
| Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly investment fund finance | Grants issued under a Covid-19 Temporary Framework or the General Block Exemption Rule |
| Start Up Loans | Business rates relief |
| Local authority grants, including those not issued under a Temporary Framework | |
| Bounce Back Loans, in certain limited circumstances |
For a solar project the line to notice is local authority grants. Regional business energy grants are usually paid through a Growth Hub, combined authority or council, so a grant you received in the last three fiscal years is likely to be a relevant subsidy that you need to declare. Our business solar grants guide explains how patchy and intermittent those grants are; this is the reason it matters to read the award letter.
What is not on the list
The Bank’s list does not mention capital allowances or the Smart Export Guarantee. A relief that every business can claim on the same terms, such as the Annual Investment Allowance, is not the kind of selective support that list is about, but the list is non-exhaustive, so if you are unsure whether something counts, ask the lender before you apply rather than after.
What to do if you are stacking a grant on GGS finance
- Find your award letter. A recipient of a relevant subsidy should have been given documentation stating its value and the legal basis. Look for references to Minimal Financial Assistance, SPEI financial assistance, small amounts of financial assistance (SAFA) or de minimis. If you cannot find the paperwork, ask the organisation that paid the grant.
- List the subsidies in the last three fiscal years. Include earlier GGS and Recovery Loan Scheme facilities from the dates in the table, and any grant from a local authority.
- Tell the lender in writing. The lender will ask you to confirm in writing that the new facility will not take you over the limit. It is your responsibility to declare relevant subsidies.
- Ask the lender for the subsidy value of the facility. It is not the loan amount. Together with your earlier relevant subsidies, it must stay within £315,000.
- Expect a smaller facility, or none, if you are close to the limit. The Bank says earlier subsidies can reduce the maximum you can access, potentially to zero.
- Remember the tax. If part of the system’s cost is met by a grant, that part is not available for capital allowances; see the grants-and-allowances post linked above.
Subsidies awarded under GGS are published on national registers, and borrowers sign a data-protection and disclosure declaration as part of the documents, so the information you give is not private.
Northern Ireland
Different rules apply to borrowers in scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Bank publishes de minimis thresholds for those borrowers by sector, which for most sectors outside primary agricultural and fishery production is £255,000 over three years. If that is you, check the Bank’s subsidies page and ask your lender which test applies.
Where this fits
GGS is one of several ways to fund a commercial system. Our guide to the Growth Guarantee Scheme for solar finance sets out the published limits and terms, solar panel finance compares the routes, and solar funding, allowances and grants lists the other reliefs.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Growth Guarantee Scheme loan a subsidy?
Yes. The British Business Bank treats Growth Guarantee Scheme facilities as subsidies because the government guarantee gives the borrower an advantage, even though the borrower must repay the whole debt. For a business outside the scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol the facility counts as Minimal Financial Assistance under the UK Subsidy Control Act.
What is the subsidy limit for a Growth Guarantee Scheme facility?
For a business outside the scope of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Bank gives the maximum subsidy that can be paid to a borrower or its group through the scheme over three fiscal years as £315,000. The subsidy value is not the same as the amount you borrow, and the lender tells you the value.
Does a local authority grant count against the limit?
The Bank's published list of relevant subsidies includes local authority grants, except grants issued under a Temporary Framework or the General Block Exemption Rule, and says relevant subsidies received in the applicable three-year period count against your entitlement. You must declare them to the lender in writing, and in the worst case the maximum you can access under the scheme can fall to zero.
Do capital allowances count towards the limit?
They are not on the Bank's published list. A relief that every business can claim on the same terms, such as the Annual Investment Allowance, is not the selective support that list is about, but the list is described as non-exhaustive, so ask the lender if you are unsure.
Read next
- Agricultural solar finance: a farm guide — How farms finance solar in 2026 — barn roofs, hire purchase to keep the allowances, and sale-and-leaseback to fund diversification.
- Can You Finance Solar Panels? (UK Business Guide) — Yes. UK businesses can finance commercial solar through hire purchase, lease, loan or refinance. Routes, who qualifies and how approval works.
- Business Electricity Rates UK 2026: What Solar Can Avoid — What UK businesses pay per kWh for electricity in 2026, why the headline average overstates what solar saves, and how to value your own avoided unit price.