How Your Local Council Can Help With Grants

There are many grants and funding options available to new and small businesses, but many people forget to look to their local council for a helping hand. There are a range of grants and various incentives offered by Local Authorities to those businesses that will create new jobs in their area.

Local Authority Business Growth Scheme

The Local Authority Business Growth Scheme was created to provide an incentive for local authorities to encourage economic growth in their area. These grants, provided to local authorities by the Government, are used to provide better public services, invest in business growth or to reduce council tax increases.

Each local authority has been set an annual growth target they must reach before they can benefit through the scheme based on the historical growth in the area.

Regional Selective Assistance

This scheme's main priority is aimed at the creation or safeguarding of jobs in particular areas of the UK by attracting outside investment. Grants through the scheme are available for projects that have a total expenditure in excess of £500,000 and the amount awarded is typically between 5 per cent and 15 per cent of the projects outlined costs.

Regional Enterprise Grant

This grant scheme is also available in limited areas of the UK and eligibility for the scheme depends very much on the location of the application. The Regional Enterprise Grant focuses on projects which involve capital investment of up to £500,000 and aims to maximise business growth.

Research and Development Grant

This scheme, previously known as the SMART Scheme, is possibly one of the most popular and widely recognised. Small and medium-sized business can benefit from this grant to help them to research and develop technologically enhanced products and processes.

There is a lot of diversity in what is on offer in areas of the UK, the best thing to do is contact the Economic Development Office of your local council to check whether you are eligible for any financial support.

Applying For a Grant

The first thing you will need to ensure is that you meet the criteria outlined for the grant or loan in question, these criteria differ between each Local Authority so you must research this before you begin the application process.

Many authorities require you to provide an explanation of what the grant money will be used for. This is often referred to as a project proposal, and will outline everything, including the project's aims and a time scale as to when you will achieve them.

The one thing that Local Authorities are looking for is a well planned business model, which will be shown through a good business plan. It is important that this is readily available to them during the application process as a way of proving that your business is one worthy of their funding.

As well as the above, you will also have to fill in an application form and you may also be required give a personal presentation. This would require you attending a personal interview where you will talk through your business plan, your targets and overall business objectives.