Growing companies can apply for interest free loans of up to £500,000 from Kent County Council when it relaunches a lending scheme.

Bosses have until Thursday, January 19, to register their interest for the new Kent and Medway Business Fund, which will lend cash to small and medium-sized firms across the county.

The initiative aims to invest £5 million in businesses before the end of 2018, using money paid back from three previous interest-free loan schemes run by the council.

The funds – known as Expansion East Kent, TIGER and Escalate – lent nearly £55 million to more than 180 companies in the county using the Government’s regional growth fund, launched to help businesses struggling to access cash after the financial crisis.

The £5 million pot is separate to the £5 million Innovation Investment Fund, another interest-free loan scheme paid for by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, which the council launched shortly after the Brexit vote last summer.

As of July last year, the council had received repayments of £6.5 million from those schemes, although it had also written off more than £3 million as bad debt from 17 companies lent money which have since gone bust.

The new fund will be officially launched at Westenhanger Castle next to the old Folkestone Racecourse on Thursday, January 12. Loans will range from £50,000 to £500,000.

To be eligable, firms will have to prove they are creating or protecting jobs and employ fewer than 250 people.

For details click here.