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Business Grants

For the United Kingdom there are some 850 different grants

provided by UK national organisations or European Union sources.

In addition, there are some 3,000 "grants" provided by local

councils, economic development units, enterprise agencies and

other specific local bodies. The amount of grant depends upon

the purpose for which it is given.

The main purposes are as follows: -

CAPITAL GRANTS FOR INVESTMENT In reality these grants are more

concerned with the protection or creation of employment. Grant

levels range between 5% and 25% of overall project costs,

alternatively, between £2,500 and £7,000 per job created.

TRAINING GRANTS Grants and soft loans cover both design and

delivery of training. Soft loans of up to 80% of training costs

may be obtained by SME's and other grants of between 20% and 50%

of training costs are available in specific instances whereby

engineering training is particularly favoured.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GRANTS R&D grants run at between 30% to

50% of the total project cost. Costs may include salaries,

consumables, related capital expenditure, consultancy, IPR

protection and a substantial contribution towards overheads. *

Feasibility Studies into innovative technology will provide a

grant of up to 75% of eligible project costs to a maximum of

£45,000. Eligible costs to be at least £30,000 and project

duration 6 - 18 months for SME's with less than 50 employees. *

Development Projects up to pre-production prototype stage of new

products and processes involving a significant technological

advance. This will produce a grant of up to 30% of eligible

project costs to a maximum of ECU 200,000 (including any grant

already received for a feasibility study). Eligible costs to be

at least £60,000 and project duration 6 - 36 months. Open to

SME's with less than 250 employees. On the face of it there is

little change from the old SPUR/SMART system, however all awards

are considered on a competitive or challenge basis.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS These grants target specific areas which

have suffered industrial or sectoral decline e.g. textile,

fishing or defence industry locations.

EXPORT GRANTS These may subsidise the cost of setting up export

activities, or provide joint venture finance. Joint venture

support may run at 50% of feasibility studies or a substantial

20% to 50% of joint venture set-up costs.

ADVISORY SERVICES Free or subsidised consultancy or provision of

specialist information. Consultancy grants for specific tasks

will run at up to 50% of consultancy fees. Specialist

information services, access to databases etc is free or

requires a nominal contribution.

MISCELLANEOUS GRANTS e.g. assistance for museums, the disabled,

rail and water freight projects, craft industries and rural

development. The key point is that grants and soft loans will

always only meet a percentage of the total cost. The applicant

will invariably have to demonstrate that the balance of funding

to see the project through to completion is readily available.

Why use a grant consultant? Where capital grants or substantial

grants for research and development are concerned, and some

others, the application procedure and forms are complex. More

importantly, the decision-making criteria with which civil

servants both in the UK and the EU work are not in the public

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domain. It is thus difficult for outsiders to know or understand

exactly what points would favour their application as opposed to

those which would condemn it.

Grant bodies are invariably striving to give the minimum grant

necessary, in their opinion, to assist the project. whereas the

consultant acting, on behalf of the client, will be striving to

maximise the grant obtained. Consultants can help senior

management, which invariably has many other priorities, by

saving time and effort by carrying out the application

procedures on their behalf.

Consultants are most valuable where grants are issued on a

"challenge" or competitive basis. Almost all EU R&D grants are

issued on a competitive basis, i.e. applications are submitted,

ranked in order of merit and only those deemed the most

deserving will receive funds.

The UK has been moving strongly towards "challenge" grant

awarding. In these instances the use of a consultant is

imperative.

About the author:

John Courtney AIMC, MABS, MInstDis, is the managing director of

Strategy Consulting Limited

(http://www.strategyconsultinglimited.co.uk). Having trained at

The Academy of Business Strategy, and is an associate of the

Institute of Management Consultancy and a member of the

Institute of Directors, he is also a visiting lecturer on the

MBA course at Cranfield University School of Management and a

Judge in The National Business Awards