Kickstart Tourism and Restart and Recovery SME Grants

Don’t miss out! The Government is going to introduce £20m of funding to help the recovery of smaller businesses from the COVID-10 pandemic. The two grant funding options are:

• Kickstart Tourism Grant
• Restart and Recovery SME Grant
  

The grant schemes will be open from Tuesday 15th September 2020 at midday. These grants might be vital to the survival and recovery of your business and start the momentum for your recovery. With the current state of the economy, the scheme is guaranteed to be very popular - funding is going to be very limited. Expression of Interest (EoI) should be made as soon as possible when the scheme opens as there is no waiting list so decisions will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. The gateway will close when the EoI limit has been reached.

How much is the Recovery Grant?

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF, eligible businesses can access grants of between £1,000 to £5,000 to help businesses access specialist professional advice such as HR, accountants, legal, financial, IT and digital, and to purchase minor equipment to adapt or adopt new technology to continue to deliver business activity or diversify.

There is no obligation for businesses to contribute financially as the grant is fully funded.

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Who is eligible for this grant?

To be eligible for this grant:

• You must be an SME (including third sector organisations, social enterprises and trading charities).
• Your business needs to have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
• Your business must have the ability to survive following the impact of COVID-19.
• You must have below 250 full-time employees. Businesses with more than 250 employees will not be eligible.
• Must have a balance sheet of below €43million (roughly £38.8m).
• Must have a turnover of below €50million (roughly £45.1m).
• If your business has received state aid in the last 3 years in excess of £200,000, you will not be eligible.

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Excluded Sectors that are not eligible

• Nuclear
• Tobacco
• Airport infrastructure (see ERDF regulation 1301/2013 Art 3(3)
• Fishery and aquaculture sector
• Undertakings involved in the primary production of agricultural products
• Undertakings active in the sector of processing
• Marketing of agricultural products will not be eligible.
  

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What expenditure is eligible?

The grant must cover 100% of the cost of the service or product and cannot be used to part-fund expenditure. Exam-plus of eligible expenditure that you can potentially use with the grant are:

• Review of business strategy (strategic and business plans)
• Strategic review of your business model
• Coaching and mentoring in leadership and management development
• Introduction of new technology such as apps we can help implement to increase productivity and efficiency
• Developing or revising marketing strategies, social media campaigns for example,
• Rebuilding a viable business model
• Developing product offerings
• Legal and environmental compliance
• Skills analysis and development plans
• Employee management, welfare and wellbeing
  

Examples on possible eligible expenditure on equipment (where a COVID-19 related impact can be demonstrated) could include:

• IT hardware to support home working
• Software to enable secure remote working
• Online sales/purchasing platforms
• Equipment for remote working including desks, chairs etc.
• Cloud-based storage

This is examples only and not an exhaustive list.

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What will you need for your expression of interest (EoI)?

You will need to have the following information to hand:

• Business name
• Contact name
• Email address or contact information
• Trading address (incl. postcode)
• Number of employees based on Full-Time Equivalents
• SIC Code/Nature of business – If you don’t know your SIC code you can find it here.
• Balance sheet total for last financial year in euros
• Turnover total for last financial year in euros
• Net profit for the last financial year in euros
• The value of any state aid funding received within the previous 3 years (based on your business’ financial year)

How will businesses be assessed?

All decisions will be final, with no opportunity to appeal. The eligibility checks will take the following into account:

• Your potential to respond/adapt/strengthen from the impact of COVID-19
• Your ability to identify opportunities to rebuild following the impact of COVID-19
• Your ability to deliver within the timescales available (one month)

Due to the high volume of EoIs expected, it may take up to 10 working days for full application forms to be sent.

If you are successful in obtaining a grant, how long do you have to wait to receive it?

Grants payments will not be made until up to 10 weeks after the purchase of the item or service has been paid and claimed for. The fund will only be paid upon production of an invoice for the service.

Summary

• Funding is extremely limited and we expect the scheme to be very popular, so expressions of interest (EoI) should be made as soon as possible after the scheme opens.
• We are not operating a waiting list so decisions will be made on a first-come, first-served basis.
• The gateway diagnostic will close when the expression of interest (EoI) limit has been reached.
• There is no obligation for businesses to contribute financially as the grant is fully funded.
• if successful following a formal grant application, grant funding will be paid upon production of an invoice for the service or item you have procured.
• Only one expression of interest can be made per business. Multiple attempts to apply may invalidate all expressions of interest for your business.
• Grants must be claimed within two months of you receiving confirmation that your application has been accepted unless agreed otherwise.
• The grant must cover 100% of the service your business is procuring (up to max £5,000). This grant cannot be used to part-fund expenditure.

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