Manufacturers and wholesalers
Long payment terms with credit-strong buyers. Invoice finance lifts the working-capital strain without leaning on the bank overdraft.
Invoice finance
Invoice finance: release the cash sitting in your sales ledger.
Confidential or disclosed facilities against trade debtors. Funding moves with the ledger.
What it is
What invoice finance means at Bedrock.
Invoice finance funds against the value of unpaid trade invoices. The funder advances a percentage of each eligible invoice (typically 80-90%) on submission, and releases the balance when the customer pays. The borrower gets working capital that scales with sales, not with a fixed bank overdraft limit.
Two main shapes. Invoice discounting is confidential: the borrower's customers don't know a financier is involved, and the borrower retains collection responsibility. Factoring is disclosed: the financier handles collections directly. Pricing favours discounting where the borrower's credit-control capability supports it.
Invoice finance is one of the most competitively priced products in the UK market. Headline rates of 1-3% over base across the cycle are typical for clean ledgers. We compare across 12+ specialist invoice finance funders without panel restriction.
Invoice ledger estimate
What is the gross theoretical ceiling?
Enter monthly gross revenue and average debtor days to estimate the ledger before funder eligibility and reserve deductions.
£
The result must fall from £50,000 to £25,000,000.
Before eligibility and reserve deductions
Gross theoretical ceiling£500,000
Monthly gross revenue£250,000
Average debtor days60 days
Illustrative example
A gross theoretical ceiling of £500,000 describes the maximum receivables book 60-day payment terms and this monthly revenue could support. After concentration limits, aged debt and reserve deductions, a funder's actual availability figure is lower.
Gross ceiling by debtor days
30 d
45 d
60 d
75 d
90 d
- 30 d
- £250,000
- 45 d
- £375,000
- 60 d
- £500,000 (current)
- 75 d
- £625,000
- 90 d
- £750,000
90-day terms produce is 3.0x the 30-day gross ceiling at these inputs.
Assumptions
All invoices assumed eligible before concentration, aging, dispute, export, contra, retention, reserve and verification deductions.
Limitations
Gross theoretical ceiling only. Customer concentration, aged and disputed invoices, export, contra and retention balances typically reduce availability. Not a funder offer or facility limit.
Updated 22 August 2026
Bring your aged debtors list and top five customers by balance to Bedrock. Those two factors matter most to the net availability figure.
Indicative only - not a quote or offer. Subject to underwriting. Gross theoretical ceiling assumes all invoices are eligible before concentration, aging, dispute, export, contra, retention, reserve and verification deductions.
Get indicative terms from our teamYour actual ledger
Discuss what your invoices could release
The estimator above uses monthly gross revenue and debtor days to estimate the ledger before deductions. Tell us about your business so we can discuss invoice eligibility, advance rates, concentration limits and reserves with you.
Who it's for
Common deal profiles.
Three patterns we see most often. The first conversation finds out which one you're closest to.
Recruitment and staffing agencies
Weekly payroll versus monthly invoicing creates a structural cash gap. Invoice finance is the canonical fit.
B2B service businesses
Professional services, marketing agencies, and consultancies with month-end billing cycles and reliable corporate debtors.
How we structure it
Facility shape and timeline.
- Facility sizes
- £50k to £25m+ availability
- Advance rate
- Typically 80-90% of eligible debtor value
- Pricing
- Service fee + discount margin; transparent total cost quoted upfront
- Timeline
- Indicative terms once we've sounded out the right funders. Drawdown 2-4 weeks.
Sectors
Sectors where this product fits.
The sectors below are where this product fits most often. Each links to a fuller sector page.
FAQ
Common questions.
Straight answers on how invoice finance works for UK limited companies.
What is the difference between factoring and invoice discounting?
With invoice discounting the business keeps control of its sales ledger and collects from customers itself, and the facility is usually confidential. With factoring the funder runs credit control and collects payments, so customers know a funder is involved. Factoring suits smaller businesses without in-house credit control; discounting suits larger businesses with established processes.
How much of an invoice can be advanced?
Typically 80 to 90% of eligible debtor value. The balance, less the funder's charges, is released when the customer pays. Eligibility depends on the customer's credit quality, the age of the invoice and any concentration limits on large customers.
Is invoice finance confidential?
It can be. Confidential invoice discounting keeps the facility invisible to customers and is generally available to businesses with an established sales ledger and reliable credit control. Factoring is disclosed, because the funder collects payments directly.
What does invoice finance cost?
Costs usually have two parts: a service fee, charged as a percentage of turnover or a fixed fee, and a discount charge, which is interest on the funds drawn. Some facilities add charges for credit protection or other services. The total cost is set out before you commit.
Can a business with a few large customers use invoice finance?
Usually, but funders apply concentration limits that cap how much of the facility can rely on any one customer. A highly concentrated ledger can reduce availability or call for a specialist funder that is comfortable with that profile.
Guides
Guides for this product.
Sector analysis from Bedrock on how this product is structured and underwritten in practice.
ConstructionConstruction application finance: what lenders will actually fund
A construction application is not automatically a fundable debt. This guide shows how certification, retentions, variations, set-off and self-billing change the amount a specialist lender may recognise.
Business ServicesConfidential invoice discounting or factoring? A recruitment agency payroll decision guide
Confidential invoice discounting keeps credit control with the recruitment agency; factoring hands collections to the funder. The right choice depends on the quality of the agency's back office, its debtor book and what must happen when weekly payroll falls due.
- Business Services
Why business-services firms get cashflow loans where they expected invoice finance
Asset-light service firms expect invoice finance to fund the gap between paying staff and getting paid. The ledger often won't support it. The reasons are specific, and so are the cases where invoice finance does work.
- Construction
Why most invoice funders still say no to construction, and who says yes
Applications for payment, contra-charges, pay-when-paid history and retention scare off mainstream factors. What they object to is specific, and a handful of specialist construction funders structure a facility around certified staged payments instead.
Need invoice finance for your business?
Five minutes on a call gives us enough to come back with indicative options once we've sounded out the right funders.