OUR STORY

Why hasn't this happened before?

The UK has around 250,000 manufacturing SMEs and we make up more than 99% of the country's manufacturers. And there is a lot of good advice and support available to the manufacturing sector. But finding what is relevant to the unique needs of a micro business or SME has always been a challenge, even with the various government and national organisations who were formed with manufacturing in mind.

Unlike our larger cousins, SMEs rarely have an in-house grants specialist, policy team or even someone spare to spend an afternoon venturing into blind alleys hoping to find help or advice for something specific – and very often, rather urgent.

We have a director and a senior team, and of course they are also dealing with a quote, a machine issue and the apprentice's review. When that director needs funding, training or a straight answer on compliance, the support usually exists. But it sits on different websites, run by different organisations, each with its own forms and its own language. So, the search waits until Friday. Or to the top of the weekend's paperwork pile

Why we can't wait

In 2025, Made in Britain found that 58% of the companies it surveyed weren't engaging with public business support, and many didn't know how to access it.

In March 2026, the Manufacturing Commission's enquiry Small Means Essential reached a telling conclusion: most businesses weren't asking for more financial support. They wanted a way to reach the support already available, without taking their attention off production.

Support organisations feel the same gap from the other side and the cost of that gap is real: a grant that isn't claimed, a skills gap wide open, an investment put off. These are the businesses that train apprentices and hold UK supply chains together and they shouldn't lose out because the right door was hard to find any more than the business which is in dire need of the support that will enable it to move forward with a critical decision.

What we built

ManufacturingUK.org is a single front door for UK manufacturing and engineering SMEs and micro-businesses. You start here, and we put you through to the right place: funding, skills, compliance, trade bodies, regional support and practical tools. We know that you need all of your time to build your business so we want to make it as clear and simple as we can to signpost you to the information that will save you money, and stress, and time..

What we stand for

Free means free. ManufacturingUK.org is free for microbusiness and SME manufacturers and engineers. We work closely with a trusted family of sponsors to keep access free today – and free, forever..

Nothing is listed blindly. Every tool and resource is checked for value, and Andrea Wilson, our founder, personally signs off every approved asset before it appears.

Built by industry, for industry. We started with someone with the lived experience of running a manufacturing SME, not with an external idea of what one needs.

We connect. We don't compete. Trade bodies, networks and support programmes already do valuable work. Our job is to help you reach them when you need them, not replicate the valuable work they do in another place.

You tell us what's missing. If you can't find what you need, please tell us so we may improve.

Where we are now

We went live in October 2026. More than 75 manufacturers signed up within 24 hours of our launch announcement, and every founding sponsor place was filled. This is the start. We're building it with the manufacturers who use it, so join us and tell us what you need.