The challenges to growing and scaling family businesses
The ScaleUp Institute has consistently identified a number of core challenges 10 to scaling up a business in the UK ecosystem, reviewing them annually to ascertain changing
priorities among the country’s fastest-growing businesses.
In total, in the second half of 2025, 468 mid-market and scaling family businesses took part in the 2025 Annual ScaleUp Survey. 11 Their responses show that family businesses remain significantly concerned about the macroeconomic dynamics of increasing costs, the impact of tax, energy prices and supply chain disruption, as reinforced in FBUK’s recent Policy Agenda, 12 with four in ten businesses saying the economic environment is affecting the extent to which they can pursue growth. This includes
impact on recruitment, skills development and the ability to develop or launch new ideas or enter new markets, and more than a third say it is affecting the extent to which they can invest in the business. Challenges specifically hindering the growth ambitions of mid-market and scaling family businesses include access to markets (56%) and
Businesses also highlight the importance of easier and more consistent access to tax incentives (29%), as well as infrastructure and R&D facilities (25%), as key enablers of growth. Tax issues feature even more prominently among firms on a low-growth trajectory (43%). Regulatory barriers (25%) are most significant for businesses
operating in Advanced Manufacturing, Digital and Tech, and Financial Services.
talent and leadership development (55%). These are followed by the need for patient growth finance (42%).
10 Access to talent/skills, leadership, markets, finance and infrastructure. 11 Segment analysis of: ScaleUp Institute (2025). ScaleUp Annual Review 2025: Powering Up the ScaleUp Economy. Data collected in Q3/Q4 2025. 12 Family Business UK: Policy Agenda, Building Britain for Generations. At the end of January 2026, Family Business UK surveyed more than 550 family firms of which 323 were in the mid-market.
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