The one thing that sticks out though, from your comments and questions around bank lending and support for SME's, is that you don't appear to have a strong relationship with your existing bank?

With many of the businesses I advise, the first port of call is always with the existing bank relationship and ensuring that there's a good rapport and understanding between both parties. Establishing a good dialogue with the bank manager will ensure he/she has a better connection to the business, and they are in the best position to help and support. The banks are always telling me that they would prefer to be speaking to their customers at an early stage and to be aware of the issues faced, so they can support with the appropriate funding solution, rather than being faced with a late call to fix a short-term pressure (which subsequently could be declined because there isn't enough information available or time to resolve).

One of the ways you could look to fund your working capital is by using Invoice Financing (IF).

IF allows you to draw-down funds against invoices issued for payment, and effectively acts as a bridge between the period you would normally invoice and be paid. This is a common funding option used by many businesses, large or small, as an effective means to support the working capital cycle and the beauty is that it can become a natural mechanism to support your growth as the reliance on working capital increases. Your bank will set a limit on the percentage of draw-down allowed against the total amount of debtors outstanding and, in some cases, per individual customer. The upside is quicker receipt of cash, the downside is potential increases of debt costs, although you can't have it both ways!

You also touched upon help via Government backed schemes and confusion with the landscape. Whilst the previous support to Small & Medium Sized Enterprises (SME's) via Grants for Business Investment has dried-up, the Government has committed to increase the volume of lending to SME's through the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG).

The EFG is a loan guarantee scheme intended to facilitate additional bank lending to viable SME's with insufficient or no security with which to secure a normal commercial loan, and can be used for working capital or investment purposes. Your bank will assess an application against its normal commercial lending criteria, for instance with regard to the viability of the business, the ability to service the loan, and the availability of existing security, in order to determine whether they wish to lend. There is no automatic entitlement to receive a guaranteed loan and nor is there any pre-qualification process for it but, having a good relationship and dialogue with your bank will ensure you are on the front foot here.

If you have not done so already, perhaps there's scope to talk to your bank about both funding options and challenge them to come up with ideas?