3,000 growing medium-sized businesses contributed £59 billion to the UK economy between 2010 and 2013.

According to a report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), in partnership with Lloyds Bank and Experian, 7 out of 10 of those businesses were located outside London.

Scale-up businesses are defined as those growing at an average of 20% every year for 3 years.

Medium scale-up enterprises make up 2% of UK businesses and are responsible for 1 in 6 jobs, generating nearly 25% of private sector revenue.

The CBI has called the government to provide more support for scale-up businesses by:

• reviewing the tax system to encourage entrepreneurship and investment
• raising the Tier 2 visa cap
• shortening the timeframe for payment of the R&D tax credit
• raising awareness of the employee share ownership scheme
• pushing for standardisation of the European VAT threshold at €100,000.

Max Firth, managing director for Experian Business Information Services, said:

“A relatively small number of scale-up businesses can make a significant contribution to economic growth.

“Finance providers and other forms of business support need to ensure that today’s fast-growing MSBs receive the help they need to continue with their impressive progress.

“It’s also important to identify the next generation of medium-sized businesses ready to scale-up and understand what needs to be done to help them drive the economy forward in the same way.”