New grant funding for SMEs
11 August 2020
The UK Government has announced a £20 million grant funding package to help SMEs recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The grants will be between £1,000 and £3,000 (with the possibility of up to £5,000 for exceptional circumstances) and available to SMEs who can demonstrate they have been adversely affected by Covid-19.
The support will be fully funded by the Government with no obligation for businesses to contribute financially. The monies can be used for specialist business advice or to adapt and adopt new technology to improve business performance.
Flight will be eligible for funding
The good news is that the grants can be used to offset the cost of Flight, our award-winning bespoke CRM & Workflow software. If this is of interest, we will help you access the grant funding, please get in touch.
You can do so by calling the office on 01772 823734 or emailing hello@bluewren.co.uk.
How to access the funding
The funding has been allocated to local Growth Hubs who are yet to define exactly how they will issue the grants. The table below lists the funding allocation for each Growth Hub area and we have estimated how many businesses are likely to receive support. It will not be many, therefore, it is important to register interest as soon as possible to give yourself the best chance of receiving a grant.
If your business is based in Lancashire visit: https://www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk/news/coming-soon-business-recovery-grants-for-lancashire-firms/ and complete an expression of interest form. If your business is not based in Lancashire, contact your Local Growth Hub as soon as possible and ask how to be included in the selection process.
Funding Allocations
| Local Enterprise Partnership | Allocation | Businesses |
| Black Country | £425,975 | 213 |
| Buckinghamshire Thames Valley | £250,000 | 125 |
| Cheshire and Warrington | £391,240 | 196 |
| Coast to Capital | £250,000 | 125 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | £500,000 | 250 |
| Coventry and Warwickshire | £337,369 | 169 |
| Cumbria | £296,687 | 148 |
| Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | £720,398 | 360 |
| Dorset | £250,000 | 125 |
| Enterprise M3 | £250,000 | 125 |
| Gloucestershire | £250,000 | 125 |
| Greater Birmingham and Solihull | £731,277 | 366 |
| Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough | £250,000 | 125 |
| Greater Lincolnshire | £507,928 | 254 |
| Greater Manchester | £1,049,321 | 525 |
| Heart of the South West | £423,544 | 212 |
| Hertfordshire | £250,000 | 125 |
| Humber | £357,993 | 179 |
| Lancashire | £1,118,161 | 559 |
| Leeds City Region | £972,127 | 486 |
| Leicester and Leicestershire | £408,785 | 204 |
| Liverpool City Region | £839,517 | 420 |
| London | £1,201,211 | 601 |
| New Anglia | £327,344 | 164 |
| North East | £1,833,503 | 917 |
| Oxfordshire | £250,000 | 125 |
| Sheffield City Region | £845,623 | 423 |
| Solent | £250,000 | 125 |
| South East | £627,724 | 314 |
| South East Midlands | £496,004 | 248 |
| Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire | £651,960 | 326 |
| Swindon and Wiltshire | £250,000 | 125 |
| Tees Valley | £928,629 | 464 |
| Thames Valley Berkshire | £250,000 | 125 |
| The Marches | £451,873 | 226 |
| West of England | £250,000 | 125 |
| Worcestershire | £250,000 | 125 |
| York and North Yorkshire | £250,000 | 125 |
More information
- The funding is being provided to address immediate needs and all grants must be awarded by 28 February 2021 and all activity fully completed by 31 March 2021
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/20-million-in-new-grants-to-boost-recovery-of-small-businesses
- Ineligible sectors include fishery and aquaculture, primary production (e.g farming) processing and marketing of agricultural products, the coal, steel and shipbuilding sectors, synthetic fibres sector, establishments providing generalised (school age) education, banking and insurance companies/brokers and nuclear related activity
Time to do more with less
The COVID-19 crisis has presented you with a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform your business into something more resilient, productive and profitable. You now need to do more with less.
We have the expertise and the software to help you. So, if you would like to discuss how we can help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can do so by calling the office on 01772 823734 or selecting one of the options below:
Michael Lough
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