Why the paperwork decides more than the marketing
Most UK founders start by comparing app screenshots. The real bottleneck sits elsewhere: eligibility, proof of address, and how the provider handles the money you actually receive.
A sole trader needs a Unique Taxpayer Reference and a National Insurance number. A limited company director needs the Companies House number, plus identity documents for anyone holding more than 25% of shares. Applications are usually decided in minutes when the records match, and stall for days when the registered address differs from the trading address. Check the details on Companies House before you start, not after a rejection email.
The second filter is what your customers pay with. Salons, market stalls, cafés and repair shops in the UK still handle notes and coins, and a purely app-based account can leave you driving to a Post Office to bank takings. Monzo Business, for instance, charges £1 to pay in cash at PayPoint and Post Office counters. Tide accepts cash and cheques through similar routes. Starling handles cash deposits at Post Office branches. If your weekly takings are largely physical, this single detail outweighs any app feature.
Third comes protection. High street banks and a number of digital banks hold full banking licences, which means eligible deposits sit under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per person, per institution. Some app-based providers operate under e-money rules instead: your money is safeguarded in a separate account, but the compensation scheme does not apply. Both models are legitimate and regulated. They are not the same promise, and the difference only becomes visible if a provider fails.
Fourth is tax admin. Making Tax Digital for VAT is already mandatory for VAT-registered businesses, and quarterly reporting changes how often your records need to be clean. Accounts that connect directly to Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent save a monthly reconciliation ritual. Read-only accountant access matters too, because most small UK companies hand their books to an accountant at year end.
How the main providers line up
Fees below reflect what providers publish on their plan pages; business type, turnover and application outcome can shift the figures, so confirm on the site before applying.
| Provider | Monthly fee | Best suited to | Strengths | Points to watch |
|---|
| Monzo Business | No monthly fee on Lite; £5 on Pro | Sole traders and small limited companies wanting clarity | Instant notifications, Pots for tax set-aside, 24/7 support in app | Cash pay-in costs £1 at Post Office and PayPoint |
| Starling Bank | No monthly fee on the GBP account; £2 for the euro account | Businesses that want a bank licence with app speed | Receipt capture, accounting integrations, Post Office cash deposits | No branch network; lending decided case by case |
| Tide | No monthly fee tier; paid tiers add transfers and team seats | New companies that want invoicing and expense cards in one place | Free invoicing tools, MTD-ready records, card seats for staff | Transfers beyond the plan allowance carry charges |
| Revolut Business | £10 Basic; £35 Grow; £125 Scale | Firms paying suppliers or clients in several currencies | Multi-currency balances, batch payments, granular staff permissions | Plan limits on FX and transfers; check the licence status for your entity |
| ANNA Money | No monthly fee tier; paid tiers for higher allowances | Freelancers and micro-teams who hate admin | Invoicing, receipt chasing, tax reminders built in | Support is app-first; complex needs may outgrow it |
| Wise Business | Pay per use, no subscription | Importers, exporters and contractors paid from abroad | Local account details in multiple currencies, transparent conversion fees | Not a full current account for every purpose; no FSCS protection |
Three owners, three different answers
Sarah, a freelance illustrator in Bristol, invoices four galleries and one publisher. Her old high street account charged a monthly fee and a small fortune for each incoming euro payment. She moved to a multi-currency setup and now quotes in euros without padding the price for conversion costs. Her advice: keep a second account open for three months while the first client payments clear, because a single delayed transfer during a switch is genuinely stressful.
Daniel runs a ten-person engineering consultancy in Leeds. His team pays suppliers in Germany and Norway, and his accountant needs quarterly figures. He kept a high street account for payroll and large client receipts, then added a digital account for FX and day-to-day card spending. Two accounts sound messy; in practice the split gives him a clean audit trail and a fixed monthly cost he can forecast.
Priya owns a small grocery in Birmingham with a card terminal and a cash drawer. She tried an app-only account and gave up after the third trip to bank notes. She now uses an account with Post Office cash facilities and a debit card for stock orders, and does the books on a Saturday morning with the receipts already matched.
A workable sequence before you apply
- Confirm your legal structure and gather documents: Companies House number, UTR, photo ID, proof of trading address.
- Map your money flows on paper for one month. Note cash, cheques, card takings, foreign invoices and any Direct Debits you must move.
- Shortlist two providers, not six. One should match your cash needs, the other your payment needs.
- Run them side by side for a quarter. Redirect a few small payments first and keep the old account active until Direct Debits and payroll have transferred.
- Recheck the small print on transfer allowances, FX spreads, cash handling and who holds the licence.
Useful local starting points include the Business Support Helpline for England, Scottish Enterprise, Business Wales and Invest NI, all of which publish region-specific guidance on banking and record keeping. Accountants regulated by ICAEW, ICAS or ACCA will often confirm which account format their software handles best, and that conversation costs far less than a year of manual data entry.
The details that trip people up
A dormant company with no trading history can still open an account, but expect questions about expected turnover and the source of funds. Business account applications sometimes involve a credit check on the director, and a cluster of simultaneous applications rarely helps.
Watch for wording that hides a ceiling. Transfer allowances, free cash deposits and card spending abroad often come with fair-use limits, and the overage charges sit in a separate tariff document. Read that page, not the pricing headline.
One more thing worth doing: check whether your chosen provider reports to credit reference agencies for business lending. If you plan to borrow for equipment or a vehicle in the next year, an account with a track record of clean, regular deposits makes that conversation shorter.
Start with the account that fits your cash reality, then let the features earn their place. Open the application with your Companies House details to hand, and give yourself an hour rather than ten minutes.
研究の知恵