The U.K.’s bank referral scheme has officially kicked off. Reports by Financial Times on Tuesday (Nov. 1) said the program that requires traditional banks to refer small businesses to alternative lenders if they’re rejected for a loan has begun. “A refusal from a big bank should not be the end of the line for a small business and, thanks to the finance platforms being launched today, now it won’t be,” said Chancellor Philip Hammond in a statement.

The initiative was first proposed in 2014 as a way to make up for the nearly $4.9 billion in loans that SMEs cannot access each year because they are rejected for traditional bank financing. According to the U.K. Treasury, last year, 26 percent of the 324,000 SMEs that applied for a bank loan saw their initial applications turned down. Just 3 percent of those denied said they turned to alternative options to access the finance.