Adur & Worthing Council in association with the Adur & Worthing Business Partnership is excited to launch the second round of the highly successful Small Business Growth Grant and Apprenticeship Grant.
The funding is a result of an innovative partnership between District and Borough Councils in West Sussex, aimed at helping to finance business growth and apprenticeship training across the County.
Local micro businesses can apply for up to £2500 to fund capital purchases, such as new equipment, support with marketing, training or making improvements to their commercial business premises. This funding is then matched by the business, providing project funding up to £5000 in total.
Local small businesses can also apply for a one off grant of £1500 per apprentice, (up to a maximum of 2) to help cover the costs of taking on and training an apprentice.
Local consultancy firm, Chapter Three Consulting, was one of the first to be awarded money from the first round of the highly successful scheme. Realising the new GDPR data protection legislation would have a significant impact on organisations across the UK, they applied to help fund ISO 27001 accreditation.
Eddie Finch, Director said “The Small Business Grant has enabled us to complete the ISO27001 process and deliver a comprehensive and cost effective GDPR Review to our clients. We were able to grow our team by one member of staff in 2017 and are looking forward to another member of the team joining us in Q1 of 2018.”
To date the scheme has also supported apprenticeship uptake in the area. Mark Cropley, owner of Whitebox UK Van Accessories and Custom Interiors, was delighted to be able to offer a Level 3 Digital Apprenticeship opportunity to Jerry Hopkins, studying through local training provider, Greater Brighton Metropolitan College.
Mark Cropley, owner of Whitebox
On Jerry’s input so far, Mark said “Jerry has made a huge difference to our workforce. Whilst he is responsible for the upkeep of our website, in all honesty he mucks in as and where necessary. It’s been great to offer a young person a great start to the world of work”.
Damian Pulford, Managing Director at Sussex Transport and a member of the grant compliance board said “Well done Adur & Worthing Council – Its fantastic news and a great start to the year to have secured another significant amount of grant funding. This additional money will continue to benefit and help in the development of many small local businesses within the Worthing and Adur region”.
Full details of the grant including eligibility and the application process can be found here.
The grant is delivered on a strict first come, first served basis.