Guidance for applicants - Growth & Increased Productivity Fund

This scheme is aimed at providing support to businesses in overcoming barriers to growth and expansion, including increasing productivity, increased commercial floorspace and/or create new jobs or apprenticeships.

A maximum grant of £5,000 is available to eligible businesses.

All applications should be accompanied by a business plan (PDF) [451KB] and a spreadsheet showing 12 month cash flow forecast and profit & loss statement (gi.ui.mediatype.spreadsheets) [67KB] .

Applicants will be required to demonstrate in their business plan that there is a need for this support to enable their business to grow.

Eligibility

Eligible businesses can take the legal form of a:

• sole trader
• partnership
• Limited Company
• social enterprise/community interest company (CIC)

The grant is available to eligible businesses located in the Uttlesford district that have been registered as trading for at least two years (e.g. with HMRC or Companies House) and are able to provide at least two years trading figures.

What can be funded

The grant can contribute towards expenditure including:

• land and buildings, including refurbishment.
• plant, machinery and equipment costs - the grant will not contribute towards costs associated with leased or rented equipment (vehicles, stock and consumables are excluded).
• costs relating to research and development work e.g. product development, including production of prototypes and research of new marketing opportunities.
• costs associated with staff training, to improve skill levels, in order to introduce the proposed developments into the business.

The grant will only contribute towards 12 months of on-going costs, e.g. web hosting, licences etc.

What cannot be funded

The grant will not fund:

• recurring revenue costs (including salaries, existing premises costs e.g., rent, utility charges etc)
• repaying existing loans or debts

The grant cannot fund projects retrospectively, or elements of works already completed or in progress.

Grant conditions

Businesses are only eligible to apply for one stream of funding under the Business Innovations Grant Scheme.

Applicants should be aware that any other grant support received or applied for, including Uttlesford Discretionary Business Development Business Rate Relief Scheme, may be taken into consideration when reviewing applications.

Grant funding is limited and will be on a first come first served basis.

Applications will close when the funding is fully allocated.

Grant applications are assessed on their individual merit against the grant funding eligibility criteria on behalf of the council by the Economic Development Team.

The applicant must give consent for the council to involve the business in publicity e.g., press releases and photographs.

The applicant must not have any other outstanding debts payable to the council.

All the necessary statutory approvals and legal requirement must be complied with before payments will be made.

The grant is repayable should any of the conditions be breached or if the project is not implemented in full.

Match funding

Any grant will need to be matched with an equal sum of money (i.e. if the grant is £5,000 you will need to include £5,000 of your own money).

The business will be required to pay the supplier for the full cost of the project and we will reimburse you up to the agreed grant value upon receipt of the invoice. Therefore, funds must be in place to cover these costs prior to submitting the application.

Match funding cannot comprise of money received from any other grant administered by the council.

Who can apply

Eligible businesses can take the legal form of Sole Trader, Partnership, Limited Company or Social Enterprise/Community Interest Company (CIC).

The business cannot be in administration, insolvent or in a situation where a strike-off has been made.

National retailers/chains/multiples with more than 3 locations are ineligible.

How to apply

Applications must be made online and will be available on the Uttlesford District Council website.

An application is deemed to have been made when a duly completed application form, including the required additional evidence, is received via our online procedure.

Once your online application is received, we will acknowledge receipt of your grant application via an email which will contain a copy of the application form. If you do not receive this email, please contact business@uttlesford.gov.uk as soon as possible to check your application has been received.

Applicants will be required to provide statutory information and upload the following evidence:

• business plan
• spreadsheet showing 12-month cash flow forecast and profit & loss statement
• evidence of match funding (e.g., copy of savings account bank statement)
• minimum of 3 quotes for any proposed purchases of over £2,500. Justification for not choosing the lowest quote (if applicable) should be provided.
• a copy of a bank statement dated within the last 3 months in the business name
• confirmation of compliance with Subsidy Control restrictions

Mandatory submissions

All applications should be accompanied by a Business Plan and a spreadsheet showing 12 month cash flow forecast and profit & loss statement.

All applications should be accompanied by a business plan (PDF) [451KB] and a spreadsheet showing 12 month cash flow forecast and profit & loss statement (gi.ui.mediatype.spreadsheets) [67KB] .

Decision process

Grant applications are assessed on their individual merit against the grant funding eligibility criteria on behalf of the council by the Economic Development Team.

A decision will be made on your application, unless further information is required from you, within 28 days of the application being made.

All grant offers will be made in writing via email. If your project requires consents or permissions it is your responsibility to ensure that these are in place prior to starting the work. The scheme operates independently of the planning process and any offer of a grant does not imply that planning consent will be granted.

Offer of the grant

All offers will be made via email and must be accepted within 10 working days by the applicant.

After this date the offer will be automatically withdrawn. The applicant will then have to re-apply if they still wish to proceed after this date.

If you wish to withdraw your interest, please confirm this in writing via email to: business@uttlesford.gov.uk

Our expectation is that projects will start in the near future and will be completed within 12 months of the date of the grant offer letter.

Payment of grant

The grant will be paid in arrears on proof of payment and production of relevant invoices that meet the set criteria, invoices dated before the date of the offer letter will not be eligible for payment.

The applicant must submit the receipted invoices within one month of the completion date as stated in the offer letter. Failure to submit invoices by this time may mean the grant is forfeited.

Payment will be subject to the applicant having satisfactorily completed the project and complied with all terms and conditions of the scheme.

If the actual costs are less than those outlined in the application and agreed in the offer letter, payment will be restricted to the actual amount in accordance with the receipted invoices.

If the costs of the proposed project exceed the maximum grant awarded as agreed in the offer letter, the council will not increase the grant amount.

Payment of the grant will be made into the applicant's business bank account (or 'trading as' account) via BACS

⚠ Any claim for payment of the grant can only be made for the items and/or work agreed as per your offer letter and business plan. If elements of your project change you will need to contact us to discuss the changes by emailing business@uttlesford.gov.uk

Material changes to your project may mean that your offer is withdrawn and you may be advised to reapply.

Repayment of grant

The council reserves the right to recover all or part of the grant it has provided if:

• the business is sold or ceases to trade for whatever reason within a 6 month period from receipt of the grant
• the business relocates outside the boundaries of the council within a 6 month period from receipt of the grant
• information provided in the application form or other correspondence is found to be substantially incorrect, misleading or incomplete

Scheme of delegation

Officers of the council will administer the scheme and the Section 151 Officer is authorised to make technical scheme amendments to ensure it meets the criteria set by the council.

Review of decisions

The council will operate an internal review process and will accept an applicant's request for a review of its decision.

All such requests must be made in writing to the council within 14 days of our decision and should state the reasons why the applicant disagrees with the decision.  New information may be submitted at this stage to support the applicant's appeal.

The application will be reconsidered by a senior officer, as soon as practicable and the applicant informed by email of the decision.

Subsidy control limitations

The Subsidy Control Act 2022 (the "Act") came into force on 4 January 2023. The Act sets out the UK's prevailing subsidy control rules.

Payments received by the applicant from any business grant schemes administered by local authorities or anything similar from the government, for all business properties they are responsible for, counts as Subsidy Allowance.  Full details can be found in the Statutory Guidance for the United Kingdom Subsidy Control Regime on GOV.UK.

To qualify for this grant your business must not have received more than £315,000 of subsidy allowance in the last 3 years.

Tax

Grant income is taxable but only businesses making an overall profit once the grant is included will be subject to tax. 

We do not accept any responsibility in relation to an applicant's tax liabilities and all applicants should make their own enquiries to establish any tax position.

Counter fraud

Local authorities will not accept deliberate manipulation and will work collaboratively across the region and nationally to share intelligence and resources to detect fraud.

Any business found to be giving false information in order to gain a grant will be investigated.

The council will recover money paid in error and fraudulent claims will be prosecuted in the courts.