Tag: business support

Council to outline support for local businesses

The city council is exploring extra measures for promoting footfall to the Capital’s local businesses.

Detailed in a report to be considered at Tuesday’s Full Council meeting (28 July), additional ideas for supporting business include a multi-media promotional campaign to encourage residents and visitors to shop local, floral planters to enhance local high streets and the option of ‘green deliveries’ for people unable to shop in person, thanks to the use of cargo bikes.

Subject to funding, these could form the latest moves in a string of immediate measures developed or supported by the Council to address local priorities as lockdown restrictions ease.

This work to help businesses in Edinburgh bounce back after lockdown has already included: 

– Supporting businesses to gradually re-open safely with a ‘Ready, Set, Go’ advice service, including guidance provided to 20,000 business owners

– A more flexible approach to licensing to help more businesses apply to use outdoor space

– Accelerating plans to use the Council’s supply chains to better support local business and stimulate economic growth

– Creating more space for people to travel to businesses safely and enjoyably through the Council’s Spaces for People initiative, with priority being given to support walking, cycling, wheelchair use and prams

– Awarding more than 9,000 Coronavirus Business Support Grants to local businesses during the pandemic worth around £112.5m 

– Supporting planned promotional activity with the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group to gradually market the City as an attractive place for shopping, dining out and visiting with a £55,000 contribution from the Council 

– Working on a Champions network to enable Council officers to engage directly with local businesses on what further support the Council could provide.

All of the above measures are part of the Council’s work to prioritise a sustainable economic recovery – a key strand of Edinburgh’s strategy to adapt and renew as the city emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other measures taken include enhancing the support offered to those who have become unemployed as a result of Covid-19 as well as accelerating the building of affordable homes across the city, alongside sustainable regeneration at strategic locations. 

Adam McVey, Council Leader, said: “We’re starting to see more and more local businesses re-open their doors to customers and it’s fantastic to see Edinburgh full of life and activity once again.

“We’ve put a lot of measures in place to help our City with this transition out of lockdown so that it is as safe, accessible and enjoyable as possible, and we’re continuing to advise thousands of Edinburgh-based business owners on how to operate in line with national guidance.

“This remains a challenging time for our small businesses but I’m confident that we can build on the momentum we’ve seen recently. The report responds to calls being made by local businesses for extra measures and is part of our plan to work hard with the business community to drive footfall back to our local high streets in the coming months.”

Cammy Day, Depute Leader, said: “So many businesses rely on visitors for an income but we recognise the sector will need time to recover. That’s why it’s so important we do what we can to help kickstart local footfall to businesses and explore even more promotional activity tailored to our town centres.

“This report highlights just how many steps we’ve already taken to support local businesses, and I’m looking forward to seeing us build on this even further. The Edinburgh Tourism Action Group is also developing a targeted tourism campaign which we hope will help to draw local people back into the City as we gradually leave lockdown, helping us see the return of our visitor economy.”

£1 billion Business Support Fund opens

Grants to help businesses with COVID-19 impact

Businesses can now apply for grants to help them deal with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The one-off grants are designed to help protect jobs, prevent business closures and promote economic recovery, and more than 90,000 ratepayers across Scotland will be able to benefit.

The grant support is additional to separate tax relief measures and is part of a package of measures worth £2.2 billion.

Small businesses in receipt of the small business bonus scheme or rural relief, as well as hospitality, leisure and retail business can benefit.

Two types of grant are now available to ratepayers:

• a one-off £10,000 grant to ratepayers of small businesses

• a one-off grant of £25,000 available to retail, hospitality and leisure business ratepayers with a rateable value between £18,001 and £50,999

The list is not exhaustive and if businesses think they may be eligible for one of these grants, they should contact their local authority, which are administering the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance Kate Forbes said: “While our primary concern is for people’s health, it is clear that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak will have severe economic consequences, and we are treating it as an economic emergency.

“We are determined to help keep companies in business and support them and their staff during this difficult time.

“Local authorities are the most efficient way to deliver this and we have worked closely with them to deliver these measures – and eligible businesses can apply now.

“Local authorities will aim to make payments within 10 working days, and I’d like to thank them for their help in ensuring this support is delivered as quickly as possible.

“The COVID-19 situation, however, is both severe and fast-moving and requires a coordinated UK response: I will continue to work closely with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations.”

More information on how to apply can be found at:
https://www.mygov.scot/non-domestic-rates-coronavirus/

Holyrood committee asks: can business finance support be improved?

Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee is looking for a wide range of views from businesses that have received ‘Regional Selective Assistance’ (RSA) or other financial support from Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise over the past ten years.

RSA is Scotland’s main national scheme of financial assistance to industry and has existed since 1970. It is managed and delivered by Scottish Enterprise and offers discretionary grants with the aim of creating and safeguarding jobs.

The Committee is also looking to hear from businesses who have been unsuccessful in their application to RSA or have received financial assistance from another body.

Committee Convener, Gordon Lindhurst MSP (above) said: “Over the last ten years over 960 projects have received £337 million of RSA investment. This has represented a significant attempt to address regional disparities across Scotland.

“The Committee wants to gain an understanding of impact these grants have had and whether grant support could be improved, and I urge businesses who have engaged with this scheme to tell us about their experiences.”

The outcome from this exercise is expected to feed into the upcoming Scottish Government budget plans and policy development.

The key areas that the Committee hopes to find answers to are:

  • Does RSA, and other grants, represent good value for money?
  • Could the £18 million to £34 million spent each year on RSA be better used supporting Scotland’s businesses in other ways?
  • To what extent does Regional Selective Assistance support the Scottish Government’s economic goals, as set out in its Economic Strategy and National Performance Framework?
  • How do RSA, and other grants, contribute to “inclusive economic growth”?
  • How do the enterprise agencies measure the impact of RSA? Views on how RSA and other financial support packages are evaluated by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
  • How well do RSA and other grants interact with other SE and HIE interventions?
  • Views on the eligibility criteria, application and approval process;
  • Should RSA change, and if so, how?
  • What due diligence and accountability processes are followed by the enterprise agencies?
  • What progress has been made towards introducing more conditionality? Whether more conditionality should be applied to RSA funding in addition to that announced over the past year.
  • How successful is the claw-back process when investments fail?

Businesses are encouraged to complete a short questionnaire which aims to capture the experiences and views of successful, and unsuccessful, recipients of RSA and other grants. The questionnaire can be found here

Alternatively, you can respond to the call for views which can be found here

The deadline for submitting views is Friday 16th August 2019.

New Year, new support for small businesses

Innovate funding to help small businesses grow

s300_BIS_960Most small businesses awarded Innovate UK funding from January 2015 will automatically receive business support to help them grow faster. The new growth support offers small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) the chance to:

  • participate in a growth workshop
  • complete an online diagnostic of their business
  • discuss their business needs with a growth expert to develop a growth plan

Based on the results, SMEs will gain opportunities to get:

  • coaching
  • mentoring
  • entrepreneurial skills training

This will cover areas such as:

  • developing a business model
  • sales
  • strategic marketing
  • access to finance
  • leadership
  • change management

Innovate UK will meet the costs of this SME growth support. It will be provided by different organisations depending on where the SME is based:

This growth support is being offered after a successful pilot project showed that businesses that combined our funding with additional business support were able to grow their businesses more quickly.

SMEs that combined funding from Innovate with business coaching:

  • saw an average 26% increase in turnover
  • created an average 4.6 new jobs

Mentoring and training in business skills also helped businesses to gain confidence and to make the most of their potential.

s300_Bind-a-tex_for_SME_growth_news_storyOne of the companies that took part in the pilot was Bolton-based Bindatex, an innovative small business that is set to more than treble it’s turnover after receiving funding support from Innovate UK and business coaching.

Founder Chris Lever (pictured above) said: “It helped to take me out of the day-to-day production and think more strategically about how I was going to continue moving the business forward. I now have a clearer picture of where I want the business to go.”

See latest funding opportunities