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Grants for Small Business UK

Is your small business in need of funding? Whatever your location in the UK, you should be able to take advantage of these grants. Grants for small businesses are a constant challenge for small businesses and startups, but there is help available. This page contains a complete list of grants available across the UK.

SMEs within a specific local authority, whose payroll totals less than 250 or whose total balance sheet is less than £39,000 can access these funds.

Funding Grants UK with Business Opportunities

It is often the case that funding opportunities are focused on a specific location or sector, or ring-fenced for a particular aspect of a business, such as creating jobs or reducing environmental impact. Nonetheless, we provide information about each grant so that you can determine if it is applicable to your project.

Banks, grant makers, crowdfunding platforms and other lenders can sometimes combine grants with other forms of funding. FundingOptions.com and we have teamed up to help business owners find the right funding.

A link to each grant’s webpage can be found under its number. It should be noted that some grants have recently been discontinued or paused due to unforeseen circumstances.

grants money business

Enterprise Programme of the Prince’s Trust

To kickstart a business or access training courses, the Prince’s Trust offers development awards that help young people with funding.

UK residents between the ages of 16 and 30 looking for funds for training are eligible for development awards of between £175-£250. They must meet the following criteria:

  • Living in the UK between the ages of 16 and 30
  • A student who studies less than 14 hours a week or does not attend compulsory school
  • Under 16 hours of work a week or unemployed

The following can be supported by development awards:

  • The cost of accredited courses at Level 3 (the equivalent of an A level)
  • A job or qualification requires tools, equipment, or uniforms
  • Licence fees for jobs
  • From the moment you start a new job until you receive your first paycheck

Awards for development cannot support:

  • Rent or bills are examples of living expenses
  • Costs associated with starting a business
  • Paid items’ costs
  • Overseas projects or gap years
  • Course fees for levels 4 and higher (e.g., Diplomas and Higher National Certificates).

Apprenticeships offered by the government

A variety of information about apprenticeships is available on the Government’s website, and you can register and access the apprenticeship service through the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland websites.

Smart Grants Programme by Innovate UK

Smart Grants from Innovation UK support ambitious R&D innovations that have significant economic impact potential.

There are various funding rounds throughout the year.

Vouchers for gigabit broadband

Use this postcode checker to see if you’re eligible for gigabit vouchers. SMEs can claim £3,500 for the cost of connecting gigabit-capable broadband connections.

Innovate UK offers additional funding opportunities

On the website, you can find out more about Innovate UK’s other competitions.

Investing in Seed Enterprises

You probably know about this scheme. It is designed to raise money for start-ups. You are allowed a maximum of £150,000 for each investment period.

It is important that investors are able to claim and keep SEIS tax reliefs on their shares if you meet the conditions for three years following the investment. If you don’t meet those conditions, the tax reliefs will be withheld or withdrawn. Within three years of the share issue, the money must be spent.

EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme)

Except that established businesses are not included in the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

The UK Trade Show Programme

Support is available to grants for small businesses that export:

  • Trade shows and conferences approved overseas can be exhibited at or attended
  • Some costs may be covered by grants

A range of support is available through the programme for UK businesses who are thinking about exporting but haven’t yet started. All successful applicants will receive training on how to successfully exhibit at the following events:

  • General information about trade shows
  • Their specific application(s) for approved events

Financial support can also be provided to some businesses for the following:

  • Costs associated with exhibition space
  • The cost of designing, building, and dressing a stand
  • Fees for conferences, preparation of promotional materials (where applicable)

The UK Trade Show Programme cannot support you if you have previously received support.

  • Having never exhibited before or wishing to explore new markets
  • A revenue range of £250,000 to $5 million per year
  • Applying for support without committing to attend the event
  • Consider exporting your own business if you’ve never done so before, or if you’ve never exported before
  • Extending to new markets after previously exporting

It is possible to receive support under the programme in different ways depending on your eligibility. All successful applicants will receive training on exhibiting at overseas trade shows. You must not have received any support through the UK Tradeshow Programme in the past.

The following must be done

  • Be attending your first trade show or looking for new markets to explore
  • Having an annual turnover of £85,000 to £250,000
  • Applying for support without committing to attend the event
  • Your business should actively investigate export opportunities:
    • In the absence of previous exports, or
    • Extending to new markets after previously exporting

It is necessary to apply at least six weeks prior to the event’s start date.

Grants for plug-in vehicles with low emissions

With a grant that the government provides to vehicle dealerships and manufacturers, you can get a discount on new low-emission vehicles. If you want to buy one of these vehicles, you do not need to do anything – the dealer will include the grant value in the price.

Grants for Cars are limited to £1,500

You can claim R&D Tax Credits on unsuccessful projects as long as they are innovative. R&D Tax Credits are for innovative projects in science and technology.

There is no maximum number of employees you need to apply for and you must have a turnover of less than €100m or a balance sheet total less than €86m.

Grants from the British Council

Find out about current opportunities on the British Council’s website.

Competition for £250,000 to boost business

You can win £250,000 to start or grow your business by taking part in the Business Boost competition! To apply, simply fill out the online form. The judges want to understand more about your business and what you plan to do with the grant money. The judges are also looking for companies that invest in innovation and make a positive contribution to society. By August 17, you will need to have a turnover of less than £500,000 and have received no more than £50,000 in private funding in the past two years (excluding government grants).

However business boat is recently closed now but you can click to see updates

Stewardship of the countryside

You can filter the options according to your needs under Countryside Stewardship’s 258 grants that are available.

WCPG (Woodland Creation Planning Grant)

Create multipurpose woodlands with a maximum grant of £30,000 per project.

Award for a start-up company, UnLtd

A social issue can be solved by entrepreneurs.

The program offers one-to-one coaching, training, mentoring, and access to networks along with up to £15,000 to help you grow. In order to build a resilient community, create jobs, and solve the ageing problem, they’re focusing their funds on those three areas.

20,000 pounds from the LSE Generate

There are three to five winners in each competition of the LSE Generate funding competition, held twice a year during Michaelmas and Lent.

Students from the UK and overseas, irrespective of the year they graduated from LSE, are welcome to apply.

The following stages are suitable for new ventures:

  • Developing your market understanding, proposition, and initial team in preparation for launch – You have identified an opportunity.
  • Live – Your first customers have been contacted, a minimal viable product/service is available, and you are in negotiations with them.

Each entry can have any number of team members, but you must explain each member’s role and contribution.

The LSE will review previous applications, but will be looking for evidence that your idea has evolved since the last time you applied. Previous winners are not eligible to apply.

UK Heritage Enterprise

A grant of between £250,000 and £5,000,000 can be received by community organisations for the restoration of neglected historic buildings and sites.

Fund for Architectural Heritage

High streets and town centres are being transformed by the Architectural Heritage Fund.

You should check what’s available in your area before applying. Grants range from $600 to $350,000, but you may be eligible for more.

Schemes for wrapping grants

Through grants, loans and investments, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WAP) works to encourage other funders to invest in recycling, growing recycling capacity, or overcoming specific market failures through the use of recycled materials. Throughout the year, there are numerous grant opportunities available.

Initiative for Innovative Medicines

Research funding and innovation are provided by this company, including advanced therapies and clinical trials for cancer.

Competition for Emerging Technologies

Our goal is to recognize and support start-ups, spin-outs, and academic entrepreneurs in each of these categories with the most innovative, disruptive chemistry technology that is being developed:

  • Technologies that enable
  • Energised
  • Affects the environment
  • A healthy lifestyle

An application round will take place, followed by a thorough review of each application and helpful feedback from our judges. This will lead to valuable publicity and exposure for your business.

  • Enhance your proposition with a series of masterclasses
  • At the live pitch final on 7 July 2022, four winners (one per category) will be selected by our judges and will receive:
  • £20,000 in cash
  • Support and advice will be provided for one year by co-mentors
    • Below you will find information about how you can become a mentor if you are interested
  • UK-incorporated companies can apply for an acceleration grant of up to £20,000
  • The final will be supported and advised by a wider range of competition partners and judges

Scaling Up Award for UnLtd

With Do It, you can start your social enterprise under the guidance of UnLtd, who also awards the Grow It Award. As well as £5,000 to build your social venture, they’ll offer you training and events, and assign you a dedicated award manager (a social entrepreneur specialist). If you wish to accomplish your goals, the award manager will coach you and support you.

The CRACK IT Challenges

This competition funds collaborations between academics, industry and small and medium sized businesses to address business and scientific challenges that will result in scientific benefits, either through improved business processes or commercialization. Contracts are available for up to £1 million for up to three years depending on the challenge.

The Power of Digital: Helping Businesses Grow

It will help your business and employees adopt the right technology by providing free, impartial information and advice.

Using digital software to grow your grants for small businesses is easy with this platform.

In just a few minutes, you will be able to access tailored information tailored to your business. Using the same digital software, other businesses have successfully transformed their operations. You’ll also be able to find out how to find the best digital software to meet your business goals.

You can also take advantage of discounts of up to £5,000 to make your business more productive.

There are discounts available for customer relationship management and accounting software that cover up to 50 percent of the cost.

Grants for Small Businesses in England

Birmingham Commercial Grant 25

In order to support small and medium enterprises within the West Midlands Area, the UK Government has established a £10.05m Commercial Grant.

Subsidy Control Regime will govern the Commercial Grant

Criteria for eligibility:

  1. Actively trading SME for more than 12 months
  2. Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDV’s) or Light Goods Vehicles (LGV’s) that do not comply with the Clean Air Zone emissions standards must be owned or leased by the business
  3. Based on current commercial operations, businesses must be able to prove how often they enter the Clean Air Zone

Package of grants:

Each SME will receive a grant package of up to £180,000.

  • A heavy duty vehicle (HDV) should have the following – (N2, N3, & M3).
    • For purchase, lease, or retrofit solutions up to £15,000 per vehicle
  • The N1 is for Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs)
    • To buy, lease, or retrofit a vehicle, the grant amount will be up to 35% of the total upgrade cost up to a maximum grant amount of £4,000 per vehicle.

Our Clean Air Zone incentive schemes privacy notice should be read before applying for a Commercial Grant.

Grants for small businesses in Adur and Worthing

An apprenticeship grants for small businesses and a growth grant are available from Adur council. A £2,500 grant is available for micro-businesses with up to ten employees to promote local economic growth. You’ll need to make a 50 percent match contribution to receive the grant.

Each individual business can apply for up to two Apprenticeship Grants and receive a payment of £1,000 per apprentice.

We are no longer accepting applications for Worthing grant funds.

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire DRIVEN programme 

For small and medium-sized businesses to recruit graduates and students, the Driven programme offers funding and support. In 2018, the Driven programme was launched and was extended until 2023 in order to support SMEs access our student and graduate talent.

We will pay £1000 towards the cost of employing a graduate for at least 400 hours over three months. This offer can be redeemed for full-time, permanent graduate roles, or as a one-off temporary position. Alternatively, you are welcome to apply for an 80-hour fully funded internship.

As part of our free recruitment service, we advertise the position, review applications, shortlist candidates, and help with interviews, if necessary.

Upon completion of the 400 hours, we will pay the subsidy to your company.

A student or graduate of the University could provide your business with 80 hours of work experience for free under this program. If necessary, we support interviews, including advertising and shortlisting applications, as well as reviewing applications and reviewing applications.

A Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire based SME is all you need.

Vouchers for Arts University Bournemouth (AUB)

Vouchers allow businesses to access AUB’s world-class facilities for prototyping and testing, including SLS 3D printing, CNC routing, and three- and five-axis CNC milling. Our talented staff and students can also work with businesses on design challenges.

Innovation Vouchers are also available from the university for businesses undertaking R&D and Innovation projects. A small research project can repay 50 percent of the recipients’ investment.

Workshop events support vouchers and allow businesses to learn new skills, try out new equipment, and meet with other like-minded companies in the region. A Meet the Maker workshop, for instance, works with local businesses to discuss technology applications and design theory. For example, we partnered with our Museum of Design in Plastics and industrial designer Studio Wood to create an Introduction to 3D printing.

A scheme for small grants in New Anglia

Businesses looking to grow their businesses can apply for grants ranging from £1,000 to £25,000 from the New Anglia LEP. Most of these funds will cover up to 20 percent of the total cost of your project.

Grants for start-up businesses in Scarborough

These Grants are available in Scarborough in two forms.

Grants for new businesses

Businesses with fewer than ten employees and start-ups less than 18 months old are eligible for start-up grants. In addition to equipment and machinery (excluding vehicles and consumables like stationery), assistance can also be provided for facility extension, adaptation or improvement, as well as marketing, where it is part of a promotion that is likely to create new jobs.

During any one fiscal year, any one concern may receive a maximum grant for small businesses of £1,000 per grant application.

Scarborough Borough Council awards grants at its absolute discretion. Read More about Local Chester Business