Decline evidence pack: decline letter request, management accounts one-pager and aged creditor list
This pack gives you three free templates for the evidence a second funder asks for after a business loan decline: a letter getting the first lender's decision on record, a one-page management accounts summary, and an aged creditor list with HMRC included. The one-pager matters because filed accounts are due nine months after the year end (Companies Act 2006, s442), so they can describe trading that finished long ago. All three are here in full, with worked examples, and nothing to sign up for.
Quick Reference
Direct Answer
After a UK business loan decline, prepare three documents before approaching another lender: a letter asking the declining lender to confirm the decline reason, the credit reference agency used and (for the nine designated banks) whether a Bank Referral Scheme referral was offered; a one-page management accounts summary comparing year-to-date trading with the same period last year; and an aged creditor list showing every creditor, including HMRC, split into not yet due, 1 to 30, 31 to 60 and 61 or more days overdue. Free templates for all three are on this page.
Summary
This page provides three free post-decline templates for UK limited companies: a decline record request letter (asking for the written reason, the credit reference agency used, the searches recorded and, for designated banks under the Small and Medium Sized Business (Finance Platforms) Regulations 2015, confirmation of the referral offer), a management accounts one-pager with a worked example, and an aged creditor list with a worked example including HMRC balances. It explains how a second lender or broker reads each document.
This Page Covers
Post-decline evidence for UK limited companies, LLPs and partnerships: getting the decline decision on record, summarising current trading, and listing creditors by age
Not Covered Here
Asking the same lender to reconsider (see /templates/loan-decline-appeal-pack/), what to gather before a first application (see /templates/loan-application-prep-checklist/), and routes to finance after a decline (see /guides/post-decline-business-finance-uk-options/)
The PDF and plain text hold all three templates, blank. The CSV opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets with the column totals as formulas. The worked examples below use a made-up joinery company; none of its figures are real.
Why these three, and why now
A decline changes what the next funder needs from you. A first application is judged on the business. A second one is judged on the business and on the first decision, because a specialist lender or a broker wants to know straight away whether the thing that stopped the bank matters to them.
Some decline reasons don't (a bank's sector appetite, a minimum trading period), and some do (unpaid HMRC, a creditor about to issue a demand). These three documents let them tell the difference in minutes rather than weeks.
They also sit apart from the other two post-decline tools on the site. The loan decline appeal pack asks the same lender to reconsider. The loan application prep checklist lists what any lender asks for up front. This pack is the evidence file you take elsewhere.
1. The decline letter request, in full
There's no general legal duty on a UK lender to tell a business why it was declined. HM Treasury's 2025 consultation proposed requiring designated lenders to give SMEs a reason, "so long as doing so is lawful" (HM Treasury, Bank Referral Scheme consultation), and the May 2026 government response said it did "not propose legislative change at this stage" (gov.uk, consultation outcome). The Lending Standards Board, which oversaw voluntary lending standards, describes itself as having operated between 2009 and 2025 (LSB). So asking politely, in writing, and for specific items is what gets an answer.
[Your name], [role]
[Company name], company number [number]
[Address]
[Date]
[Lender name]
[Lender address, or the email address on your decline notice]
Dear [name or "Business Lending Team"],
Re: application [reference] for [amount / product], declined on [date]
Thank you for letting us know the outcome of this application. We aren't asking you to reconsider it. We'd like the decision on record so we can prepare properly before approaching any other funder. Please could you confirm in writing:
- The main reason or reasons the application was declined.
- Whether a credit reference agency search was used in the decision, for the company or for any director, and if so which agency, so we can check the data is accurate.
- The date and type of any search you recorded, and whether it was recorded as a full (hard) search.
- Whether any part of the decision rested on information we supplied that you consider incomplete, and if so what was missing.
- [Designated banks only] Whether, when you told us the application was unsuccessful, you asked if we agreed to our details being passed to the designated finance platforms under the Small and Medium Sized Business (Finance Platforms) Regulations 2015. If we didn't give that agreement at the time, please treat this letter as our agreement. [Delete this item if you don't want a referral.]
A reply by email to [email address] is fine.
Yours sincerely,
[Name], [role]
Item 5 is only for the designated banks. HM Treasury lists nine: Allied Irish Banking Group, Bank of Ireland (UK), Barclays, Clydesdale Bank, Northern Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Santander UK, and three designated platforms (HM Treasury, October 2025). When a designated bank turns down a small or medium sized business, it has to ask whether the business agrees to its details going to the platforms, at the time it tells the business the application was unsuccessful (regulation 4). The duty doesn't apply to a facility under £1,000, finance sought for less than 30 days, or where the bank knows the business faces a statutory demand, enforcement or other legal proceedings over an existing facility, or a formal demand (regulation 3(3)). The same consultation said only "c.5%" of businesses initially rejected go on to secure finance through the scheme (HM Treasury), so treat it as one route, not the route.
Directors' own data is a separate request. Anything the lender holds about you personally, as a director or guarantor, can be requested with a subject access request, and organisations usually have one month to respond (ICO). The company itself has no equivalent right, which is why items 1 to 4 are asked as a courtesy.
2. The management accounts one-pager
Filed accounts are rarely current. A private company has nine months after the end of its accounting period to file (Companies Act 2006, s442), so on the filing deadline a normal 12-month set of accounts describes a year that ended nine months earlier and started 21 months earlier. If trading has moved since then, and after a decline it usually has, a one-page summary of recent trading is the quickest way to show it.
What goes on the page
- Header: company name and number, the period covered (year to date, or the last 3, 6 or 12 months), the date prepared, who prepared it, and whether it's reconciled to the bank.
- Trading, this period against the same period last year: revenue, cost of sales, gross profit and margin, overheads, EBITDA, depreciation, interest, profit before tax.
- Position at the period end: cash at bank, trade debtors, trade creditors, HMRC balances, existing borrowing outstanding.
- Three lines of notes: anything one-off in either period, how the decline reason looks in these figures, and anything that changes next quarter (a contract won or lost, a price rise, a member of staff leaving).
Worked example (illustrative figures)
A made-up joinery company, six months to 31 August 2026 against the same six months of 2025. Brackets are costs.
| Line | 6 months to Aug 2026 | 6 months to Aug 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £412,000 | £368,000 |
| Cost of sales | (£247,200) | (£228,160) |
| Gross profit | £164,800 | £139,840 |
| Overheads (excluding depreciation) | (£118,500) | (£121,300) |
| EBITDA | £46,300 | £18,540 |
| Depreciation | (£6,000) | (£6,000) |
| Interest on existing borrowing | (£4,200) | (£3,900) |
| Profit before tax | £36,100 | £8,640 |
| Gross margin | 40.0% | 38.0% |
| Position at 31 August 2026 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash at bank | £38,400 |
| Trade debtors | £71,200 |
| Trade and other creditors, excluding HMRC (from the aged creditor list below) | £27,430 |
| Existing borrowing outstanding | £60,000 |
| HMRC balances (from the aged creditor list below) | £30,200 |
Notes, as they'd appear on the page: (1) 2025 overheads included a one-off workshop move. (2) The bank declined in July citing weak profitability in the filed accounts to 31 December 2024; this period's profit before tax is £36,100 against £8,640. (3) VAT for the quarter to 31 May is overdue and a Time to Pay arrangement has been requested; see the creditor list.
How a second lender reads it: margin up from 38.0% to 40.0% and overheads down means the improvement is operational, not a single big invoice. Note 3 is the line they'll go straight to, which is exactly why it's better said by you than found by them.
3. The aged creditor list
A list of everyone the business owes, split by how late each amount is. It's the document that shows whether cash strain is contained or spreading, and it's where HMRC arrears are either disclosed by you or discovered by the lender. Include every trade supplier, HMRC (each tax separately), finance and lease companies, and anyone with a disputed invoice. Leave out director loans to the company and long-term borrowing; those belong on the one-pager.
Worked example (illustrative figures)
| Creditor | Not yet due | 1 to 30 days overdue | 31 to 60 | 61+ | Total | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timber merchant | £12,400 | £6,100 | 0 | 0 | £18,500 | £6,100 invoice 12 days overdue, payment date agreed |
| Ironmongery wholesaler | £3,200 | 0 | £1,850 | 0 | £5,050 | £1,850 invoice 45 days overdue, payment date agreed |
| Van lease company | £1,480 | 0 | 0 | 0 | £1,480 | Monthly rental, paid by direct debit |
| Former accountant | 0 | 0 | 0 | £2,400 | £2,400 | Disputed fee, in writing since June |
| HMRC, VAT quarter to 31 May | 0 | 0 | £22,300 | 0 | £22,300 | Due 7 July, 55 days overdue; Time to Pay arrangement requested, awaiting HMRC reply |
| HMRC, PAYE and NIC for August | £7,900 | 0 | 0 | 0 | £7,900 | Due in September, on time |
| Total | £24,980 | £6,100 | £24,150 | £2,400 | £57,630 |
What it tells a lender: £57,630 owed in total, of which £32,650 is overdue, and £24,150 of that is in the 31 to 60 day column, mostly VAT. HMRC is owed £30,200 across two taxes. A specialist lender can price that; what it can't price is finding it later. The disputed £2,400 is shown with its status, not hidden, and the non-HMRC creditors reconcile to the £27,430 on the one-pager.
Why the overdue columns cost more than the balance
A supplier owed money by another business can add statutory interest at 8% plus the Bank of England base rate (gov.uk). With base rate at 3.75% (Bank of England, last changed 18 December 2025), that's 11.75% a year. On the example's £1,850 ironmongery invoice, 45 days late, that works out at £26.80 (£1,850 × 11.75% ÷ 365 × 45), and the supplier can also claim a fixed £70 recovery cost, the gov.uk sum for a debt of £1,000 to £9,999.99 (gov.uk). Small per invoice, but a long 61+ column adds up. This uses today's base rate as a guide; gov.uk links to current and previous base rates if you need the rate for an older debt. Most suppliers don't claim it while the relationship is good, which is another reason to agree payment dates and write them in the status column.
“These documents make a second application faster and more honest. They don't make a weak one strong. If the aged creditor list shows HMRC arrears growing month on month, the job before any new borrowing is an agreed arrangement with HMRC, not a tidier spreadsheet. Build the pack, read it the way a lender would, and if it tells you the business needs a repayment plan rather than more debt, listen to it.”
Using the pack
- Send the decline letter request the same week as the decline. Answers are easier to get while the file is fresh.
- Build the one-pager and the creditor list at the same month end, so the creditor totals and the one-pager's creditor and HMRC lines agree.
- Reconcile both to the bank statements you'll send. A figure that can't be traced to a statement is the first question a lender asks.
- Read the decline reason against your own pack, then pick the route: the decline scenarios directory covers specific reasons from CCJs to overdue Companies House filings, and business loan declined sets out the recovery sequence.
- If HMRC arrears are in the list, weigh borrowing against an arrangement first: VAT loan vs HMRC Time to Pay.
FAQs
Does a lender have to tell my company why it was declined?
Not as a general legal rule. HM Treasury's 2025 consultation on the Bank Referral Scheme proposed requiring designated lenders to give a rejection reason, and its May 2026 response didn't propose legislation at that stage. Many lenders will still give a reason when asked in writing, which is why the letter asks, and why having the answer on paper is worth ten minutes of your time.
How is this different from the loan decline appeal pack?
The appeal pack asks the same lender to think again. This pack doesn't ask for anything to be reversed. It gets the decision on record and builds the two documents a second funder or a broker will want to see first, so they can judge quickly whether the reason that stopped the first application applies to them.
Do I need an accountant to produce the management accounts one-pager?
No. It's a summary, not a statutory document, and most bookkeeping software will produce the figures. What matters is that it reconciles to your bank statements and to your last filed accounts, because a second lender will check both, and a one-pager that can't be tied back to either does more harm than good.
Should HMRC arrears go on the aged creditor list?
Yes, always. HMRC debts show up in other places a lender looks, and leaving them off a list that claims to be complete is the fastest way to lose an underwriter's trust. List them with their status: paid on time, overdue, or under a Time to Pay arrangement, with the reference if you have one.
My bank was one of the nine designated banks. Can I still ask for a referral after the decline?
Under the regulations the bank has to ask whether you agree to a referral when it tells you the application was unsuccessful. If you missed or declined that question, the letter below asks the bank to confirm whether a referral was offered and to treat the letter as your agreement. There are exclusions: the rules don't apply to facilities under £1,000, to finance sought for less than 30 days, or where the bank knows the business faces a statutory or formal demand or enforcement over an existing facility.
Pack ready?
If you'd like help with the next step, send an enquiry through the eligibility checker and we'll pass your details to a business finance broker, who will contact you about your options. FundBiz is not a lender and does not run a credit check.
Check your options →By Adam Parker. FundBiz is owned and operated by Best Business Loans Ltd, directed by Oliver Mackman. These templates and guidance are general information, not financial or legal advice. Worked example figures are illustrative, not from a real company. Last updated: