Grants of up to £5,000 available to help SMEs recover from COVID-19

A new government support package has been launched to help small and medium sized businesses recover from the financial impact of COVID-19.

Small grants, up to a maximum of £5,000, will be available as part of the support package, although most grants will typically be in the range of between £1,000 and £3,000.

The Growth Hub will be responsible for allocating these grants in the SEMLEP area, when they become available. Over the coming days and weeks, we’ll be working with government and local partners to put in place the necessary processes to administer the grant funding.

The grants, which do not require any match-funding, are designed to:

• help businesses access specialist professional advice in response to the impact of COVID-19 e.g. human resources, accountants, legal, financial, IT / digital.
• purchase minor equipment to adapt or adopt new technology in order to continue to deliver business activity or diversify in response to the global pandemic.

These grants are in addition to a £10m package previously announced specifically for businesses in the ‘visitor economy’ sector.

If you would like to learn more about when the grants are available, who is eligible and details of how to apply, sign up to the Growth Hub newsletter below.

We will be providing further updates in the coming weeks as more information becomes available.