East Cambs Business Growth Funding

UK shared prosperity and rural England prosperity business grant funding

The programme is open to any existing SME business with a turnover of under £10,000,000 located in the East Cambridgeshire District.

Applicant businesses should have a strong business plan that:

• demonstrates plans to grow the business 
• how funding will be used to support this growth 
• where applicable how funding will support job creation including apprenticeships 
• how the funding will support the business to respond to market changes 
• a clear delivery plan for the project that the funding is supporting 
• how the funding will be of benefit to the wider local economy, for example, supply chains 

Businesses who are not eligible:

• businesses not based in East Cambridgeshire 
• businesses that have an annual turnover of more than £10,000,000 
• businesses that have received grant payments that equal the maximum permitted levels of UK Subsidy Control (all applicants will be required to complete a Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) declaration as part of their application) 
• businesses that are in administration, insolvent or when a striking off notice has been made 
• intermediaries or agents acting on behalf of other businesses 
• businesses that only exist to operate investment funding and other types of finance 
• charities (unless applying through a trading arm that meets the above requirements) 

Eligible activities:

To be considered eligible, all projects will be required to deliver at least one or more of the following outcomes:

• create or safeguard jobs 
• utilise new technologies or processes within the business 
• bringing new products to market 
• demonstrate improvement in business productivity 

In addition, the following criteria apply to expenditure:

Eligible capital spends:

• purchase of machines and associated tooling 
• purchase of equipment that enhances productivity including technology and IT equipment (this includes associated software) 
• renovation/repurpose of buildings and building of new premises (NB planning consent must be in place at the time of the funding application) 

Eligible revenue spends:

• website redevelopment 
• training 
• marketing and promotional campaigns 
• research 

What the programme cannot support: 

• payment of expenditure prior to the funding agreement date 
• paying of debts or refinancing 
• direct staff costs – salaries, travel or subsistence  
• general business overheads and costs (for example, rent and rates, utilities) 
• the cost of any statutory, legislative obligations or other duties or requirements associated with the business 
• non-bespoke business software