In 2015, the government’s women’s enterprise ambassador Lorely Burt published a landmark review arguing that women entrepreneurs could create jobs, boost growth, and reduce gender inequality if business support was designed inclusively. The review came at a time when women were starting businesses at increasing rates but were still underrepresented in high-growth sectors and in access to finance. Burt argued that the problem was not a lack of ambition among women founders, but a support system built around a narrow model of entrepreneurship. A decade later, the Burt Report still shapes how policymakers talk about women in enterprise UK, even though the support landscape has shifted dramatically. For the latest figures on women in business, see Women in Business: Key UK Facts.

The report’s central finding was that small design flaws in business support created large barriers for women. It criticised the emphasis on fast, early growth, noting that women’s enterprises often grow differently, accelerating later when other life commitments change. It also called for better diversity data in government procurement and the VAT Register, and urged Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to promote inclusive support regionally. Many of these recommendations remain unfinished business in 2026.

What the Burt Report got right

The Burt Report identified three issues that remain relevant in 2026:

• Growth is not one-size-fits-all. Women-led businesses often prioritise sustainability, flexibility, and staged growth over rapid scaling. Support programmes that only reward fast growth miss these founders.
• Data gaps hide disadvantage. Without sex-disaggregated data on procurement, funding, and business ownership, policymakers cannot target support effectively.
• Local delivery matters. Business support must reach women where they are, not only in major cities or tech clusters.

A decade later, sex-disaggregated data is still patchy. While gender pay gap reporting has become routine for larger employers, comparable transparency in business ownership, venture funding, and public procurement remains limited. This makes it harder to measure whether progress is real or rhetorical. These arguments were later echoed by the Rose Review Female Entrepreneurship: Progress or Promises?, which has become the dominant policy framework for women founders in the UK.

From LEPs to local growth partnerships

The institutional landscape has changed since 2015. LEPs were abolished in 2024 and their functions transferred to mayoral combined authorities and local government structures. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own enterprise agencies, while English regions now look to combined authorities and local growth plans. This fragmentation makes the Burt Report’s emphasis on consistent, inclusive design even more important.

The Burt Report’s call for regional, inclusive support now sits with bodies such as the British Business Bank, local growth partnerships, and devolved administrations. Despite these changes, the same barriers persist. According to the 2024 Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship progress update, women-led businesses contribute around £85 billion to the UK economy, yet only one in three UK entrepreneurs is a woman. The Review estimates that closing the entrepreneurship gender gap could add up to £250 billion in economic value. The challenge for 2026 is ensuring that national targets translate into practical help in every region.

Current support for women founders

Several schemes now put the Burt Report’s principles into practice:

• The Investing in Women Code. Launched in 2019 and expanded since, this voluntary code commits signatories to improving women founders’ access to finance. By 2024, it had more than 200 signatories across banks, venture capital firms, and angel networks, according to HM Treasury and British Business Bank reporting.
• British Business Bank programmes. The Bank’s Start Up Loans Female Founders programme and regional funds provide finance and mentoring to women starting businesses.
• Help to Grow. The government’s management and digital training schemes, though evolved since launch, remain a route for women-led SMEs to build skills.
• Procurement targets. Central government aims to spend £1 in every £3 with SMEs by 2025, a target set out in Cabinet Office procurement policy. Monitoring diversity in supply chains is now more common, though still uneven.

What women in enterprise UK can do now

The Burt Report’s message was that support should fit women’s lives, not the other way around. In 2026, that means:

1. Choose finance carefully. Compare Start Up Loans, grants, and equity options. The business grants for women in UK page lists current opportunities.
2. Track your data. If you tender for public contracts, record your business’s diversity credentials and social value contribution.
3. Use local networks. Connect with regional growth hubs, women’s business networks, and mentoring programmes rather than relying on national schemes alone.
4. Plan for staged growth. Build a business model that allows you to accelerate when the time is right, not because a programme demands it.

Why the Burt Report still matters

The Burt Report was a 2015 document, but its argument, that inclusive support unlocks women’s economic contribution, is still central to policy in 2026. For women in enterprise UK, the practical task is to use current schemes, local networks, and flexible finance to build businesses on their own terms. The report’s lasting lesson is that equality in enterprise is not only about ambition; it is about designing support that recognises how women actually run businesses.