Fair4All Finance opens Small Sum Lending pilot bidding with up to £25m of funding

Fair4All Finance made the Bidder Application Pack for its Small Sum Lending pilot available to download on 7 April 2026, alongside presentation slides from a webinar on the same date¹. The pilot is intended to increase access to small sums of credit for people in financially vulnerable circumstances who are otherwise unable to access mainstream credit¹.

Under the plans, Fair4All Finance says it intends to initially allocate up to £25m across multiple lenders, with each lender capped at up to £10m¹. The application pack sets out further information on the pilot, eligibility criteria and how lenders apply for the funding¹.

The organisation points to the Small Dollar Loan Scheme in the United States as evidence that lending to this group of customers can be done safely, sustainably and at scale, saying US lenders have moved away from using CRA data and rely on current account transaction data to inform lending decisions¹. It also cites its own research and what it describes as extensive lived experience conversations with people who could be supported by the product¹.

Fair4All Finance states on the same page that it does not offer financial products or support directly to consumers, and warns that anyone emailed about a loan from the organisation should not pay money or loan fees, directing reports of such emails to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or through its website¹. It works with organisations that support people with their finances¹.

The page does not state the closing date for bids, the timetable for deciding which lenders receive funding, or when lending to consumers would begin. Those details have not been reported¹.

Why it matters for households

The funding is aimed at lenders rather than borrowers, so no household can apply to Fair4All Finance directly, and the organisation says it does not provide products or support to consumers¹. The practical effect for households would come through lenders that win an allocation and then offer small loans to people who cannot get mainstream credit¹. The amounts involved are set out as up to £25m in total and up to £10m per lender, described as an initial allocation, so the scale of any lending to consumers depends on how many lenders bid successfully and how they use the money¹. Nothing in the published material sets out the cost of borrowing for customers, the size of individual loans or the areas of the UK that would be covered, and none of these has been reported¹. The pilot sits within the wider regulation and policy work on credit and financial inclusion.

What happens next

Lenders can download the Bidder Application Pack now, which contains the eligibility criteria and the application process¹. No deadline for applications, no date for announcing successful bidders and no start date for lending have been published¹.