East Cambridgeshire District Council has released details of its Business Growth Fund which aims to support businesses looking for help to scale up and grow as the district emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applications for the Business Growth Fund are open from Wednesday 1^st December and the Council is urging businesses to check their eligibility and apply as soon as possible as funding is limited. 

Eligible businesses will be able to apply for a one-off grant of up to £30,000 which can be used towards purchasing new assets to make the business more efficient, professional advice including training and development, repurposing safe working space for employees and much more.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 12^th January at 5pm.

Councillor David Brown, Chairman of the Finance and Assets Committee, said: “We are really pleased to be able to offer another round of support grants for businesses in East Cambridgeshire.

“Over the past 18 months, businesses have faced some incredibly tough times and this grant can be extremely beneficial for those businesses as they now start looking to the future to rebuild and expand.

“As a Council, we’ve been committed to doing everything we can to support businesses throughout the pandemic and I would encourage all businesses to check the grant criteria and apply if eligible.”

The grant scheme gives priority to those businesses who have:

• had suspended growth plans as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially within sectors not previously supported by other schemes
• ambition to rapidly develop ideas into commercially viable and sustainable growth in 2022
• viable ‘market ready’ initiatives, financially backed by owners and other funders where needed
• ambition to recruit and train additional staff including new apprentices in 2022

The funding is available as part of the Government’s Additional Restrictions Grant Scheme. 

More information, including eligibility criteria and the application form, can be found on the Council’s website.