From next month Barnsley businesses will be able to apply for grants under new regional business support projects.
Barnsley Council’s Enterprising Barnsley team will lead the delivery of two new regional business support projects: Business Productivity and Digitisation Grant, and Launchpad – Business Start Up Programme, as well as delivering a new Rural Business Support Grant, all funded by UK Shared Prosperity Funding
The council will also collaboratewith the South Yorkshire Local Authorities and The Business Village to deliver a Low Carbon Project for SMEs across the region, that will provide support to help businesses decarbonise their operations.
Cllr Robert Frost, Cabinet Spokesperson for Regeneration and Culture, said: “We’re delighted to approve these new business support projects, which Barnsley will play a key role in delivering on behalf of the wider region.
“It’s brilliant we can facilitate access to finance and support for our SMEs. It’s great we can boost our town’s entrepreneurs, increase productivity and provide better employment opportunities for all.
“The success and reliability of our Enterprising Barnsley team over recent years in delivering these projects through European funding has now been rewarded, by having our teams deliver and evolve these grants going forward through UKSPF. Recently, we have developed a new website and brand for Enterprising Barnsley, setting in place a robust system for handling these grants and delivering the best possible resource in terms of support for businesses in our borough.”
Business Productivity and Digitisation Grant
The Business Productivity and Digitisation grant project will address the productivity gap with grants up to £12,000 to support SMEs by providing access to grant support that will directly help them to increase productivity.
Launchpad
The Launchpad Project will address the start-up deficit. Starting a business isn’t easy. Those first steps can be overwhelming, and it can be hard to know where to begin. Launchpad provides one to one support for you to build up your knowledge, develop your ideas and build the confidence you need to take your business forward. It is accessible to individuals looking to start a business, SME’s that have been trading for less than three years and for micro businesses with 10 staff members or less of any age.
Rural Grant
The Barnsley Rural & Visitor Economy (capital) Grant Project will support those rural areas that often face specific challenges, specifically lower productivity rates. The Rural Fund supports the aims of the government’s Levelling Up White Paper and Future Farming Programme. It will provide small grants for capital projects that will help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities.
Low Carbon Grant Project
Supporting SMEs to decarbonise. The NetZeroBarnsley/Low Carbon Grant project will be a collaboration between the Council, The Business Village (BBIC Limited) and Sheffield City Council, who will be the lead partner. The project will offer free and intensive support, designed exclusively for businesses based in the Barnsley area, which have high-impact potential for contributing to the Net Zero carbon emission targets. Support will include in-person and peer-to-peer advice, this will be underpinned with a grant offer for businesses to invest in products that will help reduce their carbon footprint.
Information on each grant will be made available on the Enterprising Barnsley website – the grant application will go live in August once details have been agreed.
