Issue details
Small Business Resilience Grant Programme
In approving the £9.4m Regional Recovery
Fund on 9 October 2020, the WECA Committee agreed officer
delegations to ensure that decisions on business cases / detailed
specific proposals for the agreed schemes can be progressed at
pace.
One of the proposals was the Small Business Resilience Grant
Programme.
A Full Business Case was prepared seeking £1m from the
Investment Fund which will be match
funded by £180k by business. The funding will be provided
from the £7.15m balance of the
Regional Recovery funding.
The project will deliver a small business grant fund to Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
across the region. This aims to support businesses that require
funding to implement new
business practices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, by
purchasing new products, services or
equipment.
The project sits within the ‘Rebuilding Business’
pillar of the West of England Recovery Plan, which
seeks to ‘Further enhance our business support offer to help
businesses adapt, survive and find
sustainable pathways to recovery and growth’.
The project aims to build upon national recovery funding,
benefiting from the experience and
learning gained from the grant funding schemes that have been
launched in the last 10 months, to
help to improve business resilience and survival rates.
It is planned to support 300 businesses and the business case
assumes that 270 of these will still
be trading after 12 months. Based upon the experience of providing
Universal Business Support,
it is forecast that 30% of the businesses will create one new
employee, 81 new jobs overall.
The Chief Executives of the 4 West of England unitary authorities
were consulted on this proposal and were in agreement with the
decision.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Notice of proposed decision first published: 25/01/2021
Decision due: 21 Jan 2021 by Chief Executive, West of England Combined Authority
Contact: Patricia Greer, CEO Email: patricia.greer@westofengland-ca.gov.uk.
Consultation process
The Chief Executives of the 4 West of England
unitary authorities were consulted on this proposal.
Decisions
- 25/01/2021 - Small Business Resilience Grant Programme