UK Scale-Up Support 2026: Visas, Grants and Concierge Service
In June 2026 the Business Secretary, Peter Kyle, used London Tech Week to set out a package of measures intended to keep Britain’s fastest-growing companies in the UK and to make it cheaper and quicker for them to recruit from abroad. The package sits alongside the Industrial Strategy, the Plan for SMEs and the 2025 Autumn Budget, and responds to a long-standing complaint that British companies find it harder to scale here than in competing markets.
Three distinct measures were announced. The first is a tiered concierge service that gives high-potential firms a direct line into government. The second is a grant scheme that refunds visa costs for international recruits. The third is a referral arrangement that shortens the wait for a sponsor licence where an overseas business is setting up in the UK with Office for Investment backing.
Key takeaways
- The Government has created a single point of contact, known as the concierge service, to help fast-growing UK firms clear obstacles to expansion.
- Qualifying scale-ups can recover up to £5,000 of eligible visa application fees for each overseas hire and their dependants, subject to an annual ceiling of £25,000.
- Only businesses in clean energy, life sciences, or digital and technologies can claim reimbursement, and each must already hold a sponsor licence.
- Fees paid before the grant application is submitted are not eligible, so employers must apply before they incur the cost rather than claim afterwards.
- Grant money is released on a first-come, first-served basis and the scheme is scheduled to close on 1 March 2027.
- Overseas companies backed by the Office for Investment may have a UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence decided in roughly ten working days rather than eight weeks.
- Faster processing is not guaranteed: applications the Home Office classifies as complex return to the standard timetable.
What is the scale-up concierge service?
The concierge service is a government support function that gives fast-growing companies one named route into Whitehall rather than requiring them to approach several departments separately. It is designed to resolve problems that slow expansion, including regulatory approvals, access to funding, public sector procurement, and recruitment of specialist staff from overseas.
Support is tiered, so the level of help a company receives reflects its growth potential rather than its size alone. Importantly, access is not restricted to companies holding a Scale-Up Worker sponsor licence, which means firms that have never used the immigration system can still use the service.
The service works alongside the Global Talent Taskforce and is being shaped with input from founders and investors as it develops. To keep that link to industry, the Business Secretary appointed Penny Verbe as Scale-Up Adviser, with a remit to feed business experience back into policy and to act as an advocate for the sector.
What does this mean in practice?
Because the service is still being built out, companies should treat it as an evolving channel rather than a fixed entitlement. The realistic benefit in the short term is faster escalation of specific blockages, for example a licensing decision or a Home Office query, rather than any general relaxation of rules.
What is the Visa Fees Reimbursement Scheme for Scale-Ups?
The Visa Fees Reimbursement Scheme for Scale-Ups, abbreviated to VFRS4SU, is a grant scheme that pays back eligible visa application fees a business incurs when it recruits someone from outside the UK. It is administered by the Department for Business and Trade and opened in June 2026.
The aim is straightforward. Sponsoring an overseas employee is expensive, and that expense falls hardest on companies growing quickly with limited cash. Returning part of it is intended to make the UK a more realistic destination for skilled workers and the businesses that want to employ them.
How much can a business claim?
A business can claim up to £5,000 for each eligible hire, and the figure covers eligible fees for the employee’s dependants as well as the employee. Total claims are capped at £25,000 per business per year.
The budget is finite. Applications are handled in the order they arrive and grants are made until the allocation runs out, so late applicants may find nothing left even if they meet every condition. Decisions are usually communicated within 30 working days of submission, with payment following a successful outcome.
Can a business claim fees it has already paid?
No. The grant guidance states that any costs incurred before the date the grant application was submitted are not eligible, so despite the word “reimbursement” in its title the scheme does not work retrospectively. An employer that recruits first, pays the visa fees and then applies will have nothing to claim. The grant application has to come before the fees are incurred, which means funding needs to sit inside the recruitment plan from the outset rather than be treated as a rebate collected at the end.
Who is eligible for visa fee reimbursement?
A business must satisfy all of the following conditions:
- Scale-up status. The company must have averaged annual growth of more than 20 per cent in either headcount or turnover across three consecutive years, and must have employed at least ten people at the start of that period.
- Priority sector. The business must work in clean energy, life sciences, or digital and technologies, as those sectors are defined in the Industrial Strategy sector definitions list.
- UK presence. The company must either be incorporated in the UK and registered at Companies House, or be an overseas company registered at Companies House as having a UK establishment.
- Sponsor licence. A valid licence for a UK immigration route must already be held.
- Eligible route. The recruit must be sponsored or endorsed under the Skilled Worker, Global Talent or Scale-Up route.
- Due diligence. The business must pass the Department for Business and Trade’s standard checks before any grant is awarded.
- UK bank account. Payment can only be made into a valid UK account.
Individuals cannot apply. The claim belongs to the employer, not to the worker whose fees were paid.
When does the scheme close?
The scheme is currently due to end on 1 March 2027, but it can close sooner if the budget is exhausted. Combined with the rule that fees must be incurred after the grant application is submitted, this gives employers two separate reasons to move early: the budget may run out, and any recruitment paid for before applying falls outside the scheme entirely.
How does the Office for Investment fast-track referral work?
The Office for Investment fast-track referral is a route by which a supported overseas business can have its UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence application prioritised, with a target decision time of about ten working days instead of the standard period of up to eight weeks. It is open now to companies already receiving ongoing support from the Office for Investment.
The referral is not a paid priority service and it is not automatic. The Office for Investment decides whether to refer a case, and the Home Office retains discretion afterwards. If an application is judged complex once it reaches caseworkers, it reverts to normal processing times.
What is the UK Expansion Worker route?
The UK Expansion Worker route allows an overseas business with no trading presence in the UK to send senior managers or specialist employees here to establish a branch or subsidiary. Permission is granted for an initial 12 months and can be extended by up to a further 12 months, giving a maximum of two years.
Two limitations matter. Time spent on this route does not count towards settlement, meaning indefinite leave to remain. And anyone who needs to remain in the UK beyond two years must move to another category, most commonly the Skilled Worker route or the Senior or Specialist Worker route, once the UK entity is trading.
Who qualifies for a fast-track referral?
To be considered, a business must be receiving ongoing Office for Investment support, must operate in one of the eight priority sectors under the Modern Industrial Strategy, and must meet at least one of these growth tests:
- It has secured at least £1 million in venture capital or institutional investment;
- It has committed at least £2 million in capital investment towards its UK expansion; or
- It takes part in a government-recognised high-growth programme, such as the Global Entrepreneur Programme.
How significant are these measures?
Taken together, the announcements reduce cost and, in some cases, delay for companies already committed to the UK. They do not change the underlying immigration rules, the compliance duties attached to a sponsor licence, or the criteria a worker must meet.
The reimbursement scheme is the clearest benefit, but only for employers who plan around it. The eligibility conditions are narrow and objectively verifiable, so a business can usually tell in advance whether it qualifies. The difficulty is sequencing. Because fees paid before the grant application is submitted cannot be claimed, the money is available only to companies that treat the grant as a step in the recruitment process rather than as a rebate collected once hiring is done. Add the first-come, first-served allocation and the practical message is the same either way: apply before you commit.
The fast-track referral deserves more caution. UK Expansion Worker applications are frequently treated as complex, which is precisely why this route has no access to the Home Office’s pre-licence priority service or to the post-licence priority change of circumstances service. A referral may therefore deliver a ten-working-day decision, but a business planning a UK launch should not build its timetable on the assumption that it will.
The concierge service is the hardest to assess because it is still forming. Its value will depend on whether it can genuinely compel faster responses across departments, rather than acting as another point of contact.
How Sterling Law can help
Sterling Law advises UK and overseas businesses on sponsor licence applications, compliance duties, and the immigration routes covered by these schemes, including Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-Up and UK Expansion Worker. We can assess whether your business meets the scale-up or referral criteria, prepare the underlying licence and visa applications, and help you sequence recruitment so that a funding claim remains available.
If you are planning international hiring or a UK expansion in the coming months, please contact our immigration team to discuss your position.
