Scale-Up Adviser: terms of reference
Published 9 June 2026
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Overview
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has directly appointed the role of Scale-Up Adviser to help ensure government support reflects what businesses need.
Duration
The duration of the role of Scale-Up Adviser is 6 months.
Context and ambition
Scale-ups and their entrepreneurial founders are an important part of the UK’s Growth Mission. The Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) Secretary of State and ministers are committed to delivering an ambitious agenda to transform the policy behind, support for, and profile of scale-ups in the UK.
The post-holder will be responsible for collaborating with government and industry, ensuring effective engagement to advance the national scale-up and growth agenda. This will include:
- promoting and advancing government’s work on scale-ups and the growth agenda, including implementation of the Industrial Strategy and the small and medium-sized (SME) business plan
- advising on key policy areas important to scale-ups and government support
- engaging across the sector to align industry and government
The Scale-Up Adviser will work collaboratively with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation, and other relevant ministers and advisers to progress the scale-up agenda. The Scale-Up Adviser will also work with officials in DBT and across government.
Governance and ways of working
The appointment began on 5 May 2026 and will conclude on 5 November 2026.
The post-holder will work closely with officials on a confidential basis, as well as meeting with stakeholders, industry bodies, founders and investors.
Conflicts of interest
A full declaration-of-interest process has been conducted in the usual way for direct ministerial appointments, and mitigations will be taken to minimise any conflicts. We will continue to monitor conflicts of interest with the post-holder.