Not yet trading. FinPilot opens for new clients in January 2027 — join the mailing list to be first to know.

Funding Health Check

Find the grants, loans and tax reliefs your business is missing

Most small businesses never claim the funding they qualify for — not because it isn't there, but because it's scattered across government, local councils, lenders and HMRC. We check your business against all of it and tell you what's genuinely worth applying for.

Request your check

What we check

Grants — national (Innovate UK, government funds) and local council and regional schemes
Government-backed and local loans — Start Up Loans, regional investment funds, community lenders
Tax reliefs — R&D relief, capital allowances, pre-trading expenditure, Employment Allowance
Hiring and skills incentives — apprenticeship funding and employer incentive payments
Investor schemes — SEIS/EIS eligibility if you're planning to raise equity

What you get back

A ranked shortlist of the schemes you're likely to qualify for, with amount, deadline and match-funding requirement
An honest view of fit and effort — including the ones not worth your time
Near misses: schemes you'd qualify for with one change, like a partner or a different project scope
Clear next steps, and a fixed-fee quote if you'd like help with an application

FinPilot opens for clients in January 2027. Requests received before then are queued and reviewed in the order they arrive once we're trading.

Request your Funding Health Check

Eligibility for almost every scheme turns on the same handful of facts — location, size, age, sector and what the money is for. The more you can fill in, the more accurate your shortlist. Fields marked * are required; if you don't know an answer, leave it blank.

1. About you

Full name * Your role Email * Phone

2. Your business

Business name * Legal structure * Companies House number Trading status * Date trading started (or will start) Postcode of main business site * Other UK sites or where most of your work happens VAT registered? Owned 25% or more by another company?

3. Size

Employees (full-time equivalent, including directors) * Annual turnover (last full year) * Balance sheet total (approx.) Profitable in the last year?

4. What you do

Sector * SIC code(s) Describe what your business does * Do you sell outside the UK, or plan to?

5. What would you use funding for?

Grants almost always fund a specific project, not general running costs. Tick everything you're planning in the next 12–24 months.

Describe your main project(s) * Estimated total project cost When do you want to start? How much could you put in yourself (match funding)?

Types of funding you're open to

Grants Loans Tax reliefs Equity investment

6. Innovation and tax

Are you developing anything new that involved solving a technical problem with no obvious answer? Claimed R&D tax relief before? Hold or applying for patents? Capital spend in the last 2 years (equipment, vehicles, fit-out) Planning to raise investment from investors?

7. People

Planning to hire in the next 12 months? Would you consider hiring someone aged 16–24? Any apprentices at the moment? Annual payroll bill

Optional: founder-targeted programmes

Some programmes are reserved for particular founders. This is entirely optional and used only to match you to those programmes. Tick any that apply.

Founder aged under 30 Female-led Ethnic minority-led Disabled founder Armed forces veteran

8. Funding history

Many schemes cap how much public funding one business can receive, and most rule out businesses in financial difficulty — so this saves chasing schemes you can't get.

Public grants or funding received in the last 3 years? Details (scheme and amount) Any existing business loans or finance? Up to date with HMRC and Companies House?

9. Anything else

Anything else we should know? How did you hear about FinPilot?

Common questions

Is grant funding really free money?

Grants don't need repaying, but most fund a specific project, often cover only part of the cost (you fund the rest), and many pay out after you've spent the money. We'll tell you plainly what each one really involves.

Do you charge a success fee?

No. The health check and any application support are quoted as a fixed fee before any work starts — never a percentage of what you win.

What if nothing fits?

That's a useful answer too. Tax reliefs such as capital allowances and R&D relief are often worth more than grants for established businesses, and we'll show you any you're not already claiming.