The Government launches a new scheme to support SMEs affected by coronavirus.
The Government have confirmed plans to provide the London Growth Hub with £1.6m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to launch a new SME grant fund.
SMEs that are eligible will receive grants up to £5,000 to help them access professional, legal, financial or other advice and /or new technology, as well as other minor equipment to address their immediate needs in response to the impact of COVID-19. Funding will be made available to both SMEs in Visitor Economy sector and SMEs in the wider economy (which covers all other sectors).
Eligibility
To be eligible the business must:
be based in the Greater London Area;
employ fewer than 250 people and have a turnover of less that €50M and a balance sheet below €43million;
be trading on or before 1st March 2019 and should still be trading;
be able to demonstrate that the business has been adversely impacted by COVID-19;
have the ability to survive following the impact of COVID-19; and
not have exceeded the following level of State Aid (If your business has received state aid in the last 3 years, the total should not be in excess of €200,000. Businesses exceeding this level of state aid funding will not be eligible.
Eligible expenditure
The grant is available to help SMEs access one-to-one specialist advice to address their immediate needs. The grant must cover 100% of the cost of the service and cannot be used to part-fund expenditure.
Some examples of eligible expenditure include:
Review of the business strategy
Rebuilding a viable business model
HR, financial and legal advice
The introduction of new technology
Developing or revising marketing/digital strategies to reach new markets
Mitigating the impact of social distancing measures
Employee engagement, welfare and wellbeing
Grants may also be used to purchase minor equipment to adapt or adopt new technology in order to continue to deliver business activity in response to Covid-19 or diversify.
How to apply
The scheme is currently not open for applications until later this month/October. However, SMEs can register their interest now by clicking here.
Further information about the scheme can be found here.