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- What is a small business grant?
- How to apply for small business grants
- What small business grants are available in the UK?
- What start up business grants are available across the UK?
- Small business and start up grants in England
- Business grants in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Other forms of business financing
Perhaps you’re looking to take the first steps on your business journey, or maybe you’re an established small business owner and you just need a bit more money to take your business to the next level. In either case, small business grants may be the key to unlocking the potential of your business.
While there are various funding options available for UK small businesses – including business loans – small business grants are among the most sought after. Small business grants can provide an injection of capital when your small business or start-up needs it most. The best part is that, unlike a business loan, small business grants don’t usually have to be repaid.
Small businesses may be eligible to take advantage of a range of small business grants and start-up grants currently available in the UK. Read on for more information about various small business grants and discover how you can access specific small business funding in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.
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What is a small business grant?
Small business grants and start-up business grants are sums of money that are normally given to small businesses to achieve a specific purpose or accomplish a specific project. For example, small business grants may be provided to pay towards the cost of training, employment, expansion, research, property improvements, or to revitalise a local area. Small business grants come from supranational, national, regional, and local sources, and are available for a range of industries. Small business grants are usually non repayable.
Each small business grant comes with different guidelines and eligibility criteria. Because they are so competitive, many small business grants have a fairly lengthy application process.
What is the difference between a small business grant and a loan?
The most important difference between a small business grant and a business loan is that a loan must be repaid, while a grant normally does not. This is why small business grants tend to be so competitive.
However, bear in mind that some small business grants may be partially or conditionally repayable. Always check thoroughly before applying and make sure you understand the terms of the grant.
How to apply for small business grants
Each business grant, whether for small businesses or start ups, will have its own application process. However, there are some general steps you can follow to try to ensure you have the best shot possible at submitting a successful application.
- Do your research: Find out exactly what the provider of the grant is looking for, so you can tailor your application accordingly. This will also help you avoid wasting time on small business grants you aren’t eligible for.
- Apply as early as possible: Some small business grant pots may dwindle as time goes on, so applying early could boost your chances of securing funding.
- Keep on top of deadlines: Don’t miss out on a small business grant by letting an application deadline pass you by. Make a note of when you need to submit your proposal.
- Be clear: Try to avoid getting bogged down in technical jargon or overly complicated language. You want your proposal to be simple and easy to understand.
- Be specific: Describe clearly what your business does and how you meet the eligibility criteria. Also be specific in stating what you will use the grant money for and what aims and outcomes you are looking to achieve.
- Be thorough: One of the best ways to show why you should receive a grant is by providing a detailed business plan. It may even be a requirement of the application.
» MORE: How to write a business plan
What small business grants are available in the UK?
The number and availability of small business grants across the UK frequently changes, as deadlines expire and new schemes are introduced.
So it is important to bear in mind that the list below is not exhaustive. There may be other small business grants available that are specific to your locality or industry. You can check for the most up-to-date funding options at your local business hub, the government’s business funding search tool, or through dedicated industry organisations.
Sectors: Not for profit
Amount: Varies based on location and grant requested
This fund has a number of different grants available to organisations, with the aim of transforming the appearance of high streets and town centres, as well as stimulating the local economy. The exact aims and details of each grant varies between home countries. Organisations can find grants to fund feasibility work into a project and then receive further grants for developmental and larger project costs.
Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Grants
Sectors: Registered CITB businesses
Amount: Depends on training course costs
Employers in the construction industry can apply for business funding to contribute towards the costs of training their employees. The scheme helps to make sure construction workers have the right skills and qualifications to perform their work to a high standard.
Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme
Sectors: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Amount: Up to £2,500
SMEs and sole traders without access to gigabit-capable internet connections in rural areas can apply for a broadband voucher to upgrade their connection.
Sectors: Senior leadership at businesses older than a year, with five to 249 employees
Amount: 90% of course fees
With Help to Grow: Management, you can attend a 12-week course, with one-to-one mentoring, that is 90% funded by the government, leaving you to pay £750 per person. It is for senior leaders who want to develop their skills and strategies.
Sectors: Various
Amount: Various
There are numerous innovation competitions that can help small businesses access funding. The link above on Gov.uk is updated regularly. New opportunities frequently arise across many different sectors, with new competitions opening as others close.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP)
Sectors: Any (in partnership with academic/research organisation and qualified graduates)
Amount: Up to 67% of project cost for SMEs, up to 50% for large companies, and up to 75% for third sector organisations. Total costs can range between £80,000 and £100,000 per project year.
A Knowledge Transfer Partnership can help your business get the specialist skills and expertise it needs to fulfil an innovative project and bring about change. The grant contributes to the costs of hiring a suitably qualified graduate, while also giving your business access to specialist resources, expert input and consultancy, and a range of support from the wider network.
Sectors: Community businesses, social enterprises, charities
Amount: Up to £5,000 (Community Business Trade Up development grant); up to £25,000 (Community Business Trade Up matched equity investment); up to £12,000 (Discovery Fund)
These programmes aim to support community enterprises that make a positive difference to the local area, both those that are starting up and those looking to grow and become more sustainable. The programmes also offer expert support and advice alongside the grant funding.
Sectors: Any
Amount: Discounts on purchase price, varies depending on the type of vehicle
Thanks to this grant, businesses can receive a discount when buying specified models of new, low-emission vehicles, from wheelchair accessible vehicles, motorcycles and mopeds, to vans, trucks and taxis. To get the benefit of this grant, businesses don’t need to apply for anything as dealers include the value of the grant in the vehicle’s price.
Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credits
Sectors: Science and technology SMEs
Amount: Various
While not technically a grant, R&D tax relief can provide free funding if your business is trying to innovate in the science and technology sector. If you are an eligible SME, you can deduct 86% of your qualifying costs from your yearly profit, on top of the usual 100% deduction, giving a 186% total. If your business is loss making, you can instead claim a tax credit worth up to 10% of the surrenderable loss.
The National Lottery Community Fund
Sectors: Community, charity, not-for-profit, voluntary
Amount: Smaller grants between £300 and £20,000; larger funding up to £500,000
The Community Fund aims to bring a positive impact to local communities by building strong relationships, bringing people together, improving spaces in the local area, and supporting people as they reach their potential. It contains many types of funds, from smaller grants between £300 and £20,000, to larger funding up to £500,000.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Sectors: Charities, community groups, non-for-profits and relevant individuals
Amount: From £10,000 to £10 million
The Heritage Fund is designed to help heritage projects – whether national, regional or local – aimed at boosting the local economy and creating better places to live, work, and visit. The grants can be used for a wide range of projects including training costs, repair and maintenance, professional fees and other heritage-focused activities.
Trusthouse Charitable Foundation
Sectors: Charities, not-for-profit
Amount: £2,000 to £10,000 to cover up to 50% of costs (Small Grants Programme for SMEs with annual income under £250,000); £10,000 to £100,000 (Major Grants for businesses with turnover up to £1 million)
Organisations can receive a grant from Trusthouse to help with running costs or one-off capital costs for projects that will help solve either rural issues or urban deprivation.
Sector: Start ups as well as retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses (provided the funds are used to visibly improve facilities). Also funding for small and medium-sized businesses seeking to adopt new innovations, or adopt productivity-enhancing, energy-efficient and low carbon technologies and techniques, and start or grow their exports.
Amount: Various
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is part of the government’s Levelling Up agenda and is a domestic replacement for the European Structural and Investment Programme. The fund aims to make people more proud of where they live and improve life chances throughout the UK, with £2.6 billion allocated until 2025. One of the investment priorities is to support local businesses.
Sector: Export businesses with an annual turnover between £250,000 and £5 million
Amount: £2,000 or £4,000
If you are an exporter looking to exhibit at overseas trade shows, then the UK Tradeshow Progamme can help you access £2,000 or £4,000 in grants towards exhibition costs, stand costs (including design, construction and dressing), conference fees and promotional materials.
UnLtd Social Enterprise Funding
Sectors: Social businesses
Amount: Up to £8,000 for social businesses running under than one year; up to £18,000 for social businesses trading for longer than a year
These awards are designed to help businesses targeting lasting social change. For businesses that have been up trading over a year, UnLtd offers grants of up to £18,000 in order to help you grow and expand.
What start-up business grants are available across the UK?
Although not strictly a start-up grant, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) can help raise funds for early-stage businesses.
SEIS promotes investment into early-stage companies by offering tax relief to individual investors in your company. Your start up can raise no more than £150,000 in SEIS investment, and you will need to make sure you adhere to the scheme’s rules to ensure your investors continue to receive their tax relief.
Social entrepreneurs across the UK looking to start a business, or whose business has been up and running for less than a year, can also access up to £8,000 in start-up business grants from UnLtd.
Meanwhile, if you specifically want to enter the beauty industry by opening a new salon, or offering a new service, you can apply for a Beauty Backed Trust Start-up Grant worth up to £5,000.
Small business and start-up grants in England
On top of the grants available across the UK, there are a range of small business grants and start up grants specifically created for England and its composite regions.
To make sure you are up to date with the various grants available in England, you can search the Local Enterprise Partnership growth hub for your region, or use the government’s nationwide business funding search tool.
Below is a selection of small business and start-up grants available in England.
Start-up business grants in England
Across the country there are a number of start-up business grants to help get your idea off the ground. These include:
- Elmbridge Start-up Boost: Start ups in Elmbridge, Surrey, can apply for a one-off grant worth a maximum of £1,000 to cover 50% of eligible costs related to getting your business off the ground.
- Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership: If you are hoping to start a new business in Hertfordshire, you may be eligible for a package of fully-funded specialist support to enable early-stage businesses to grow.
- Malvern Hills Growth Grant: If you are a new or young business in the Malvern Hills district, in Worcestershire, there are grants of up to £2,500 available if you meet the scheme’s criteria. The Malvern Hills Rural Fund is also open to applications for up to £25,000 of business funding.
- Mansfield Business Start-Up Grant: If you are looking to start a new business in the Mansfield district, you may be eligible for a grant worth up to £2,500.
- Reigate & Banstead Borough Council Business Support Grants: Start ups in the Reigate and Banstead area with fewer than four employees can apply for a grant worth up to £1,000. This grant is temporarily paused.
- Scarborough Business Development Grant Scheme: Start-up business grants of up to £1,000 have been available in the Yorkshire town of Scarborough for new businesses and those trading for less than 18 months – though the scheme is currently not accepting new applications.
- West Midlands SME Grant Programme: New businesses in the West Midlands region can apply for a grant worth between £2,500 and £7,500.
- Worcester City Council Business Start-up Grant: If you are based in Worcester, and are at the start-up stage or have been trading for less than 12 months, you can apply for funding from the City Council worth up to £1,500.
Creative and cultural grants in England
If you work in the creative and culture sectors, then these are some of the grants available to you:
- Arts Council England Funding: There are a number of grants available for cultural organisations through Arts Council England, including National Lottery Project Grants between £1,000 and £100,000.
- Big House Grants: If you are a business in the Creative and Digital Industries sector based in Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire, you can access Big House CDI grants between £1,000 and £2,500. Meanwhile, SMEs looking to hire external expertise (in the form of freelancers or talent) to help their business grow can take advantage of the Big House Elevator programme to cover up to 30% of the total cost, provided the spend for expertise is between £3,500 and £7,000.
Business energy grants in England
The following business grants are related to energy costs and usage:
- Net Zero Worcestershire Grant: Small and medium-sized businesses in Worcestershire can access up to £10,000, depending on their precise location, to implement energy saving initiatives.
- Energy Efficiency Grant: If you are based in Coventry or Warwickshire, you can get grants of £1,000 to £100,000 to cover up to 50% of the costs of making your business more energy efficient.
- Low Carbon Workspaces: If your business is located in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Milton Keynes or Northamptonshire, you can apply for match-funded grants of between £1,000 and £6,750 in order to recoup up to a third of the cost of energy-saving measures you implement in your workplace.
Science, product development research grants in England
If you work in the science and research sectors, or are looking to develop a new product, you may be able to get assistance through the following schemes:
- Medilink INSTILS: In the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire regions, life sciences businesses can access Specialist Networking Grants up to £3,000, Innovation Support Grants up to £20,000, and Med Tech Trials Grants up to £50,000.
General business growth and expansion grants
There are many business grants available aimed at SMEs looking to grow and expand. These include:
- Beauty Backed Trust Support Grant: If you are an established beauty business or freelancer, you can apply for a grant worth up to £5,000 to help with running costs, additional training, or new equipment.
- Chichester District Council Grant Programme: If you are an SME in Chichester, in West Sussex, looking to implement growth projects, improve publicly owned spaces, or projects designed to help residents most in need, you can access grants both under and over £1,000.
- East Sussex Invest Programme: If your business is based in East Sussex, you can apply for business grants from £10,000 up to £25,000.
- Elmbridge Business Boost Grants: If you are a retail business in the Elmbridge area, you can access grants worth up to £2,000 to improve your shop front, restore a shop back to commercial use, and up to £1,000 to help town or village projects aimed at driving new footfall, investment and streetscene or sustainability improvements.
- The Business Growth Fund: Businesses in Gateshead, North Tyneside and Sunderland can apply for a grant to grow their business. This money is part of the Shared Prosperity Fund, with £3.5 million of funding set aside for these areas.
- Invest to Grow: If you are based in the East Midlands, and work in one of the eligible sectors (such as manufacturing, life sciences, construction, and engineering), you can access grants worth £15,000 to £250,000 for projects with a minimum cost of £50,000.
- Mansfield Business Growth, Shop Front Improvements and Vacant Shops Grants: Grants worth up to £2,500 are available to businesses in the Manfield district. These can be used to expand and grow your business, make shop-front improvements, or for occupying a vacant retail property.
- Nelson Town Deal Grants: Manufacturing businesses in the Nelson Town Deal area, in Lancashire, can apply for grants totalling up to 50% of project costs, up to a maximum of £100,000.
- North-East Business Support Fund: If you are based in the County Durham, Northumberland, Tees Valley or Tyne & Wear region, you can access grants covering 35% to 40% of costs for improvement projects worth up to £8,000.
- West Midlands SME Grant Programme: Existing businesses in the West Midlands region can apply for grants from £1,000 to £100,000. Start-up businesses in the region may be eligible for grants of £1,000 to £7,500.
- Worcester City Council Business Growth Grant: If you are based in Worcester, you can apply for a match-funded grant worth up to £2,500 (if you work from home) or £5,000 (if you are in a commercial premises).
Business grants in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Just as in England, specific business grant schemes are available in the rest of the home countries.
To find out more about schemes in Scotland, you can visit our dedicated guide to small business grants in Scotland.
For information on the various schemes available in Wales, you can read our guide to business grants in Wales.
And for a summary of some of the schemes on offer in Northern Ireland, you can read our guide to business grants in Northern Ireland.
Other forms of business financing
If you are unsuccessful in applying for a business grant, there are a few other ways you can try to secure funding.
You could go down the crowdfunding route and try to raise money directly. Or to turn to another type of peer-to-peer lending platform in the search for funds. You could even look for an angel investor to help expand your business.
Of course there are also traditional business loans, which can help you access the funds you need to grow your organisation.
Image source: Getty Images
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