--- title: "Business funding for childcare & nurseries — working capital for UK nursery companies" description: "How short-term business finance fits UK childcare companies — bridging the funded-hours payment lag, a room fit-out, holding staff through ratio rules, or steadying the late-summer occupancy dip. The company borrows, never the director: no personal guarantee, no personal credit check. To apply, head to credicorp.co.uk." canonical: "https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/childcare/" locale: "en-GB" updated: "2026-06-21" --- # Business funding for childcare & nurseries > How short-term working capital fits a UK childcare company — bridging the funded-hours payment lag, room fit-outs, holding a qualified team through staff-ratio rules, and seasonal occupancy swings. This is the Creditcorp brand front door at **creditcorp.co.uk** — it never takes applications, prices loans or accepts payments. The operating lender is **Credicorp Limited** at [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/); the company/legal detail lives at [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/). **Canonical URL:** **Last updated:** 21 June 2026 --- ## Who can borrow Credicorp Limited lends **only to bodies corporate** — UK limited companies (Ltd), LLPs and PLCs. The borrower is always the **company**, never the director, an individual or a sole trader. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. This is exempt business lending, not consumer credit. See [Lending and regulation](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). The products are the same three for every sector — a [Business Bridging Loan, Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice](https://credicorp.co.uk/products/). This page explains how each tends to be used in childcare. ## Where the cash-flow gaps come from Childcare costs run flat and high while income arrives late and uneven. Four pressure points show up again and again: - **The funded-hours payment lag** — funded early-education places are delivered week by week, but the money lands in arrears on the local authority's schedule, often after a headcount census. You've paid the staff who looked after those children — sometimes a full term — before the funding settles. - **Staff ratios you can't flex down** — statutory adult-to-child ratios set the floor on how many qualified people must be on the floor. When a term runs light you can't trim hours the way a shop trims a shift; lose your team and you can't take children back when numbers recover. - **Room fit-outs and EYFS compliance** — opening a baby room, adding capacity, refreshing outdoor play, upgrading sleep rooms or a kitchen, or bringing a space up to EYFS standard is a one-off cost with a clear payback, but the bill lands well before the new places start earning. - **Occupancy swings and the summer dip** — older children leave for school each September before the new intake fills the gap, after-school and holiday-club demand spikes and falls with term dates, and the late-summer weeks run quiet while rent and core wages don't move. ## Which kind of finance fits a nursery The detail — amounts, pricing, terms — lives on the [products page](https://credicorp.co.uk/products/) and with the lender; no figures are quoted here. - **[Business Bridging Loan](https://credicorp.co.uk/products/)** — a single lump sum repaid over a short fixed term. Fits a known, one-off cost: a room fit-out, outdoor play equipment, a kitchen upgrade, or a known shortfall while a funding payment is in the post. - **[Credicorp Flex](https://credicorp.co.uk/products/)** — a revolving facility to draw on, repay and draw again. Fits childcare's natural rhythm: covering wages through a quiet stretch between intakes, bridging the recurring funded-hours lag each term, and topping up around holiday-club peaks. - **[Credicorp Slice](https://credicorp.co.uk/products/)** — spread one supplier bill over a few weeks while the supplier is paid in full today. Handy when a catering, cleaning or equipment bill lands at an awkward moment between fee runs. The journey end to end is on the [how-it-works overview](https://credicorp.co.uk/how-it-works/). ## The company borrows — not you Many nursery owners have already signed personal guarantees they didn't love — a premises lease, a minibus on finance, a supplier account. The Credicorp model is the other way round: the agreement is between Credicorp Limited and your **company**. - **No personal guarantee** — the company is the borrower, full stop. - **No charge over your home** — your house isn't security for nursery staff or a room fit-out. - **No personal credit check on a director** — the lender looks at the business, not your own file. - **Bodies corporate only** — UK Ltd, LLP or PLC, never a sole trader or an individual. This is exempt business lending under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, not consumer credit. The full position is on [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). ## A worked example *An illustration, not a real customer.* A day nursery trading as a UK limited company runs a single setting with an attached after-school club. Each September a cohort of its oldest children leaves for reception, and the new intake takes a few weeks to fill those places — but the qualified team has to stay in post the whole time, because ratios don't bend to occupancy. The term's funded-hours payment from the local authority isn't due to settle until well into the following term. Because the squeeze is recurring rather than one-off, a Credicorp Flex facility to the company fits the pattern: the nursery draws down to cover wages through the quiet late-summer weeks and the funding lag, then pays back as the new intake fills and the authority settles. The agreement is with the company, so the owner gives no personal guarantee and puts no charge over their home. If a baby-room fit-out comes up later to add capacity, a fixed-term Business Bridging Loan would cover that known cost separately. *Made-up illustration to show the fit, not a quote — real amounts, pricing and terms are set by the lender at credicorp.co.uk.* ## Childcare funding questions **Can my nursery borrow to bridge the wait for funded-hours payments?** Yes — the lag between delivering funded places and the local authority settling them is one of the most common reasons a nursery uses short-term finance. Credicorp Flex suits the recurring term-by-term gap; a Business Bridging Loan suits a single, known shortfall. **Will I have to give a personal guarantee or a charge over my home?** No. Credicorp lends to the company, not to you as a director — no personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check on a director. **Can I use it for a room fit-out or new equipment?** Yes. A new baby room, an EYFS-standard refit, outdoor play equipment, sleep rooms, a kitchen upgrade or sensory resources are all working-capital uses; a fixed-term Bridging Loan often fits a fit-out cleanly. **Staff ratios mean I can't just cut hours in a quiet term — does finance help?** It can. Ratios mean you hold a qualified team in place whatever occupancy looks like. When numbers dip between intakes, short-term working capital lets you keep that team rather than lose people you'll need the moment numbers recover. **My after-school and holiday club income swings hard across the year — does that change anything?** The borrower is still the company, however seasonal the income. Premises and core staff cost the same all year, so Credicorp Flex is built for that drip-feed pattern: draw down when wages outrun fees, pay back as bookings return. **Is this a consumer loan or a payday loan?** Neither. This is business credit to a body corporate, not consumer credit, and not for sole traders. Under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, lending to a UK company sits outside the consumer-credit regime. ## Related sectors - [Education & training](https://credicorp.co.uk/industries/education-training/) — the same termly fee cycles and the quiet weeks between cohorts. - [Healthcare & dental](https://credicorp.co.uk/industries/healthcare/) — a regulated, staff-led trade waiting on plan and NHS payments to catch up. - [Professional services](https://credicorp.co.uk/industries/professional-services/) — another payroll-first business bridging the lag between work delivered and money in. Browse the whole set on the [industries hub](https://credicorp.co.uk/industries/). ## Next steps (all on credicorp.co.uk) - [Apply](https://credicorp.co.uk/apply/) — start an application on the live lender site. - [Compare the three](https://credicorp.co.uk/compare/) — pick the right product side by side. - [Contact the lender](https://credicorp.co.uk/contact-us/) — phone, email, post. ## Make sure you have the right Credicorp Creditcorp Group = **Credicorp Limited** (UK, company no. 16093826) + **CM Beyer Limited** (UK, company no. 17009212), with group-related **Credicorp Pty Limited** (Australia, ACN 679 428 605). It is **not** connected with, owned by or affiliated to Credicorp Inc / Credicorp Ltd of Peru & Bermuda (BCP, NYSE: BAP) or Banco de Crédito del Perú, to Credicorp Nigeria, or to Credit Corp Group Limited of Australia (ASX: CCP) — each a separate, unrelated company. --- © 2026 Creditcorp Group · Credicorp Limited (16093826) & CM Beyer Limited (17009212). Operating lender: [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/) · Group & brand: [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/).