Development Grant and support

This phase of support is intended for those more established businesses that have been trading for at least two years and are seeking a grant for a specific business need to support the growth and development of the business. The applicant must be able to supply a copy of the most recent year-end accounts/a profit and loss statement.

This scheme aims to encourage and support the growth and development of micro businesses and SMEs* within the district by providing funding at the levels of 50% of the proposed business growth expenditure.

To be able to qualify as an SME companies must meet at least 2 of the 3 following criteria in either their first financial year or two consecutive financial years: Turnover - not more than - £54M; Balance Sheet - not more than - £18M; Employees - not more than -250

How much grant funding can be claimed per business, and at what stage will it be paid?

• Grants will pay for 50% of the cost of eligible items (see below) up to a maximum amount of £5,000 per business application in the Broadland District Council area.
• Grants will be paid only after application approval in writing and on production of receipts for the relevant purchases.
• We will pay the costs including any VAT, except where the business is VAT registered, in which case, we will pay costs excluding any VAT.
• Please note, grants will not be awarded for expenditure already made or items bought before approval given in writing.
• After approval, you will be required to submit receipts and proof of payment for items of expenditure before payments are made.

Who can apply for support under this scheme?

Any existing Broadland business located in the Broadland District Council area (where they are in business premises or operating from a home address) which fits the business eligibility criteria below and supplies the documents requested.

There are a great many Broadland businesses who have not yet had support from us under this programme so we will almost exclusively be making application to Development Grants available to those businesses who have not previously been paid a Development Grant unless the funding provided under this specific grant scheme has totalled less than £1,000 to date.

What spending can the grant support?

Listed below are a range of business activities that can be applied for under the Development Grant. The list is by no means comprehensive and should only be used as guidance and not a definitive list. You can use the grant towards one or more business activity (provided each activity will help to deliver growth in the business:

• the purchase of essential specialist equipment
• costs of taking on additional staff
• initial rental costs of new premises
• costs of buying in consultancy/coaching/mentoring
• specialist training and refresher courses
• training associated with new regulations
• the purchase of specialist software
• sign writing
• design and printing of promotional literature, exhibitions
• uniforms with your business logo
• membership of professional bodies
• ecommerce website set up and design
• commercial fit out

Please note: grants are not available to fund computer hardware unless sufficient evidence is provided to show that your business could not develop without such equipment. Grants can also not be used for the purchase of stock.

Eligibility

1. The business must be based in the Broadland District Council area and operate on a full-time basis.
2. We will not be able to support applications for expenditure already incurred before the date of your application.
3. To be considered for support in the form of a Development Grant, this business must have already been trading for 24 months or more.
4. You cannot apply for this grant if you have previously received a Development Grant from the Broadland District Council Business Builder programme unless the funding provided under this specific grant scheme has totalled less than £1,000 to date.
5. If you have previously received a Build-up Grant, there must be a minimum of 12 months elapsed before applying for this one.
6. There will be an application and approval process. Decisions are normally made within six weeks of the application and supporting documents being received. Applicants will be advised whether they have been approved for the purposes of grant support and for how long that approval will remain effective.
7. Applicants who do not provide the required information or meet the criteria will be contacted.
8. If at any stage, before or after approval, information (including quotes, invoices and evidence of payment) is not supplied within three weeks of being requested, or a satisfactory explanation provided for not being able to do so, we will close the application file. Similarly, if we no longer have a high degree of confidence that the project we have approved for support will be deliverable within the specified period we reserve the right to close the application file.
9. Grant funds are limited, offered on a first come, first served basis and subject to availability. Please do not assume that your application will be successful and that a grant will be awarded. There is no automatic right to grant support.
10. We will only consider funding projects of businesses that are fully complying with all regulatory services (including but not necessarily limited to: licensing, planning, environmental protection, food safety) and are not in arrears with payment required to be made to the council (for business rates, Council Tax – for a home based business, commercial waste collection, or commercial rent if a tenant of the Council). This means that for any existing business use of the premises you must have properly explored with the relevant service directly whether appropriate planning consents are in place, and whether the premises should be subject to business rates – if you have not done so we will make those enquiries prior to approval and it will slow down your case progressing which may mean that funds run out before we can reach approval stage.

Evidence and documentation for your application

You will need to provide various pieces of information to complete your application. The web form will time out after two hours of entering, so we strongly recommend that you make sure you have copies of your documentation available to upload before you begin. The information and evidence required include:

• a copy of the most recent year-end accounts or profit and loss statement. Where some time has elapsed since these were produced, we may come back to you to request more up-to-date figures.
• proof of Broadland District Council business address (for example business rates bill or tenancy agreement), or where trading from home address a Council Tax bill (and if you are not the bill payer a form of photographic ID will be required such as driving licence or passport).
• quote(s) for the proposed expenditure (for any individual expenditure item of £2,500 or more we will require three alternative quotations for that proposed item in order to support your application).
• a copy of the last 3 months bank statements associated with the business
• as part of your application process, you will be asked for your Companies House registration, your VAT number or your HMRC UTR number and applications cannot be submitted without one of these. Where there is not a limited company in place we will need to see evidence of the UTR

In the majority of cases one of our experienced Economic Development Officers will visit you to talk to you about your business. Our aim with this programme is to take this opportunity to support the growth in your business, through not just grant funding, but also supplementing this with training (paid for from the programme). With this we want to add value to the business by putting you in the best position to make the most from the investment we and you are making in your business.