The Highland Council has launched its Business Growth Grant; funded by Highland Leader & Highland Council - and administered by Business Gateway.
Here are the Guidelines. (Please note: slightly different conditions apply in the Inverness area. Contact Mark MacKintosh for details)
Purpose
The purpose of the grant is to help with business growth activity such as investment associated with new service/product development, new process implementation, and accessing new markets. This may include appointment of consultancy activity or buying in specialist project work.
Grant Details
The grant is entirely at the discretion of the Regional Development Officer and the Highland Council. The intervention rate for the grant is dependent on each applicant’s situation. An average intervention of 50% is indicated.
The grant element will start at a minimum of £1,333.
Eligibility
The business must have been trading for a minimum of 6 months and no more than 2 years*.
The business can have any legal structure and operate in any sector or geography within the Highland Council area.
*Where a business has been trading for more than 2 years, an exception may be made if the business can demonstrate a projected increase in turnover of 100k over the next three years and or the creation of new jobs.
Process
1. The applicant will be required to complete an application form and attach a simple business growth plan.
2. The Business Gateway Advisor will assess the application and endorse the application.
3. The application form will be send to the Highland Council for final approval and processing.
4. An offer letter and grant claim form will be sent to the applicant within 10 days of receipt of completed application form.
5. Future follow up will be made by the Business Gateway Advisor to get feedback on progress and provide further support where appropriate.
6. If a grant application is declined, once it has reached the Highland Council, the applicant will receive a formal explanation outlining the reasons for this.
Conditions
1. Each applicant to work with the local business advisor to agree a business growth plan with appropriate targets/outcomes.
2. Each applicant will agree to further contact with Business Gateway to provide business information on your return on investment/grant to allow evaluation of the project.
3. Each applicant must produce 3 written quotations for items of expenditure between £1,000 and £25,000.
4. To claim the grant, the applicant will need to provide original invoices, and copy of the original bank statement or credit card bill showing the transaction.
5. Any publicity associated with the grant must acknowledge both LEADER and Highland Council funding and contain the appropriate logos.
6. If more than one activity is planned over a period of time, this should be incorporated into one application rather than multiple applications.
7. The grant should be claimed within 3 months of completion of your project and no claims can be submitted after the 31st March 2013
Please Note, in all grant applications and claims, the following costs are ineligible:
1. Core staff costs - costs must be LEADER project specific
2. Continuation of existing services – the project must demonstrate some innovation
3. Applications whose main purpose is simply to repair an existing buildings or facility
4. Contributions towards statutory service provision
5. General overhead costs unrelated to project delivery
6. Financial / Bank charges
7. Recoverable VAT
8. CCTV
9. Civic art and Sculpture
10. Prize money
11. Alcohol
If you're based in Sutherland and would like further information, please contact me (Email).
For other locations in the Highland Council area, please get in touch with your nearest Business Gateway Regional Development Officer. Contact details are here: http://www.highland-opportunity.com/Service_Network.html
