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Leeds City Region has now announced its Business Growth Programme, aimed at supporting investment projects in the area. The Business Growth Programme fund will provide grants of between £10,000 and £1 Million for businesses looking to grow and create employment. Only businesses with a minimum of 12 months trading history can apply and application routes are […]

The Regional Growth Fund’s 4th round opens today with  £350 million available . The deadline for submissions is 20th March at noon with the RGF team promising quick assessment, which is a welcome change from previous rounds. The timeline for spending the funding is not extended so projects need to complete their expenditure by the end of […]

During his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a further £350 million towards the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) today. Looking at the small print, it would seem that  some underspend from previous rounds has bolstered the figure. The BIS RGF webpage is highlighting the additional amount at £310 million but either way, its good news for planned investment […]

We are delighted that a number of Soapstone clients have been awarded offers of support from the third round of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, announced today. Soapstone Associates has continued its high success rate by offering clients a no-nonsense approach to supporting projects through the RGF application process, With several Local Enterprise Partnership programme bids also […]

Leeds City Region is to allocate an additional £26million for capital projects through  its Growing Places Fund. The fund is focused on improving infrastructure but is can also help businesses  struggling to agree commercial lending for their own capital investment projects. This second round of funding will offer loans of between £250,000 and £5 million. Robert Littlefair from […]

Research and Development tax credits remain an area of uncertainty for large and small businesses alike. In our experience , only around 50% of those  companies eligible have investigated the opportunity and of those, around 10-20% have made a claim.  This is often because they have taken an ‘accountancy approach’ when looking at pulling claims together. The amount of […]

The Technology Strategy Board has announced a new competition to support development and demonstration projects to create supply chain  innovation in UK offshore wind and renewable energy. £7m will be invested in projects  developing and demonstrating component technologies in offshore wind systems, with £3m committed to feasibility studies and the remaining £1.2m supporting innovation between universities and industry in the sector. […]

The Technology Strategy Board offers grant funding for SME R&D projects. There are three areas of assitance available, depending on the stage of the investment: Proof of Market Grant – up to £25,000 at 60% intervention rate Proof of Concept Grant – up to £100,000 at 60% intervention rate Development of Prototype Grant – up to £250,000 with […]

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has followed the the National Audit Office in calling for greater training and understanding from officials when assessing Regional Growth Fund (RGF) applications. The group highlighted their frustration at the slow development of the process and has recommended a simplified application and assessment process “to avoid further delays, additional […]