Business finance, grants and support

Business Link

Business Link is the government's online resource to help you start, improve and grow your business.  The website contains essential information, support and services for you and your business - whether you work for a large organisation or are on your way to starting up.

It has a large section on Finance and Grants and a section on Grants and Government Support to help you find and secure grants and government support to help start up and develop your business.

You can also use the Business Support Finder to find publicly-funded sources of assistance you may be eligible to apply for. Support may be available in a number of forms, including financial assistance and free or subsidised advice services. There may also be specific initiatives to help with starting up, managing or growing a business.

Grants and Government Support

• Grants: the basics - This guide introduces you to some of the grants available to businesses in the UK and outlines the kinds of projects and organisations to which they are available. It also provides hints on improving your chances of being awarded a grant.  Find a grant that suits your business and what makes a business eligible to receive one
• Government support for businesses - Government support available to businesses, including financial support, advice, information and skills training. This guide explains the various forms of government support and how businesses can access them.
• Business support finder - Search Business Link’s database of business grants, loans, expertise and advice that your business may be eligible for.
• Government guaranteed lending schemes- Finding business finance can be difficult, but in challenging financial times securing working capital for business development and growth is vital. There are a number of government guaranteed financial schemes available to help viable businesses with temporary cashflow problems. This tool from Business Link can help you by providing an assessment of your eligibility for these types of finance schemes.
• Innovation, research and development grants - Overview of grants and other support available for research and development, and innovation This guide highlights some of the grants and other support available to businesses to help them undertake R&D and innovation.
• Support networks and facilities for innovation and R&D - Enterprise organisations and groups that can help your business with innovation, research and development.  This guide explains what support is available to businesses.  It covers schemes and networks that provide practical advice or that can put you in touch with others that can help. It also explains how science parks and similar environments work and how they could benefit your business.
• Work with UK universities and colleges - Government-sponsored research and development programmes can help make your business more competitive.  This guide looks at the different ways you can work with universities or colleges. It also looks at key government-sponsored schemes and funding competitions supporting partnership projects.

Other sources of assistance for local businesses

J4B  is a website that contains information on all the latest European grants, UK Government grants and other sources of funding to help start and grow your business. You can register for free to see what is available.

The Northwest Fund is a £185m evergreen investment fund established to provide debt and equity funding from £50,000 to £2 million to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in or relocating to the North West of England.

Contact: 01925 418232

Lancashire County Developments (LCDL) is Lancashire County Council's economic development company, providing all its services to business. LCDL is a non-profit making company - its resources being ploughed back to help small and medium sized businesses, disadvantaged individuals and community projects. Its services include:

• Supporting local business through access to loans, equity based investment and advice for those companies who want to grow or diversify, utilising the Rosebud Finance scheme.
• Providing good quality managed workspace in the County.
• Business support through advice on grants available locally.

Contact: 01772 536600

Regional Growth Fund - Funding for Small Businesses

The government has made available £95 million to help small businesses, which are unable to access bank finance.

Small and medium sized businesses can qualify for a grant if they are going to invest in new capital assets, such as plant and machinery, and create new jobs, and cannot get normal bank finance.

The funding will be distributed in the form of grants alongside bank loans by the RBS, NatWest and HSBC banks.  The RBS and NatWest scheme is called the regional growth fund and will distribute £70 million and the HSBC scheme is called the Assisted Asset Purchase Scheme and will distribute £25 million.

To qualify for the NatWest and RBS scheme, businesses need a turnover of less than £25 million and to qualify for the HSBC scheme they will need a turnover of less than 50 million Euros.

For further details contact the RBS, NatWest or HSBC banks.

You can also find out more information about the Regional Growth Fund on the BIS website (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)

Save 16% on your energy bills

A limited number of places are available on ecoSMARTER, a new environmental programme that is free for small businesses.  The ecoSMARTER team is looking for businesses who employ fewer than 10 people and a turnover of less than £1.8 m.

The project aims to support businesses by saving them money on fuel bills, providing the ability demonstrate environmental credibility in bids, tenders and CSR together with networking opportunities across the whole NW region.  For details download the information at the bottom of the page or email nick.uttley@neweconomymanchester.com or phone 0161 237 4630.

Lancashire Innovation Network

This organisation provides free assistance to help companies in Lancashire realise the potential of their business by enhanced innovation and more effective use of technology. The leaflet at the bottom of this page provides more details or call 0800 612 2029; email innovate@regeneratepl.co.uk

Support for Creative Businesses

Creative Lancashire is on hand to strengthen existing businesses, support new enterprises and to raise the competitiveness and profile of the creative & digital sector in Lancashire. Its team can provide:

• Creative & digital business support
• Networking opportunities
• Information on finance and funding
• Sector specific advice and guidance
• Advocacy and collaboration support

The Manufacturing Advisory Service 

The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) offers manufacturing companies with practical, hands-on support in all aspects of manufacturing to help achieve improvements in productivity and competitiveness. The service includes:

• A direct helpline 
• A free manufacturing review 
• A programme of factory visits and networking events 
• Subsidised consultancy support 
• Links in to other support organisations

MAS can provide you with information and advice on many issues:

• Increasing productivity 
• Developing new products 
• Improving supply chain performance 
• Sourcing suppliers 
• Developing a manufacturing strategy 
• Improving resource efficiency 
• Managing change

Full details are provided in the document that can be downloaded below or visiting the MAS website.