South Norfolk Build Up Grant and support

This phase of support is intended for those entrepreneurs who are already trading and require a grant of up £1,000 for a specific business need to support the growth and development of their business. The applicant must be able to supply a fully formed business plan and cash flow forecast (templates can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant template).

This scheme aims to encourage and support the development of newly started businesses within the district by providing funding at the levels of:

• 75% of the proposed business growth expenditure while the business is within its first 12 months of trading, and at
• 50% for those businesses that are more established and have been trading for between 12 and 24 months
• 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

We have now come to the end of the time window for administering currently available funding. This means we cannot further applications at present. We anticipate being able to offer a support programme in 2025/26 but funding levels and detailed eligibility may vary slightly. We will publish revised details here during April 2025.

How will this grant programme work?

This grant scheme will require the business to seek our approval for funding support in advance and once that is given the business will then need to fund the purchase in full. The element of pre-approved Council support available can then be claimed back on production of evidence of the expenditure actually incurred. We will not be able to support applications for expenditure already incurred before the date of your application.

Who can apply for support under this scheme?

• Any person who is a South Norfolk resident and will be trading from an address in the South Norfolk Council area (their home address where there are no dedicated business premises) who fits the business eligibility criteria below and supplies the documents requested.
• Any business/non-resident who is looking to lease business premises within the South Norfolk area.

What spending can the grant support?

Listed below are a range of business activities that can be applied for under the Build Up 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:

• the purchase of essential specialist equipment
• costs of taking on additional staff
• initial rental costs of new premises
• costs of buying in consultancy
• 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 South Norfolk Council area and operate for a minimum of 16 hours per week.
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 Build Up Grant the business must have already started trading and have been trading for less than 24 months.
4. The applicant cannot have applied for any other grant funding within the Business Builder programme within the last 12 months.
5. There will be an application and approval process. Decisions are normally made within three weeks of the application and supporting documents being received. Applicants will be advised whether they have been approved for the purposes of grant support.
6. Applicants who do not provide the required information or meet the criteria will be contacted.
7. Grant funds are limited, offered on a first come, first served basis and subject to availability. This means that it is likely that there will be periods of time where no grants are offered so do not put off applying. We may change or withdraw availability of grant schemes at any time without notice. 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.
8. No grant will be awarded if the applicant is in arrears with any council service such as Business Rates or Council Tax. This will be checked as part of the application process.

Evidence and documentation for your application

You will need to provide various pieces of information to complete your application. The webform will timeout 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:

• business plan (download the business plan template) or use Foundation Template
• projected 12 month cashflow or detailed financial projections (download the cashflow template) or use Foundation Template
• proof of South Norfolk 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
• a recent copy of your bank statement associated with the business (showing some business transactions)
• 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

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.

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 and/or specialist mentoring (both paid for from the programme). With this we want to add value to the business by getting you the right advice to make the most from the investment we and you are making in your business.

We have now come to the end of the time window for administering currently available funding. This means we cannot further applications at present. We anticipate being able to offer a support programme in 2025/26 but funding levels and detailed eligibility may vary slightly. We will publish revised details here during April 2025.