GROWING BUSINESS FUND - GRANTS PANEL MEETING
Wednesday, 5th February 2020 10.00am to 12.30pm
The Cloud, Concertus Design and Property Consultants, 2 Friars
Bridge Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 1RR
Attending
Mike Burrows
(Chair)
Jeanette Wheeler
Birketts
Martin Ince
Martin Ince Communications
Jackie Potter
Micropress Ltd
Paul Stewart
Center Parcs
Dominic Keen
Britbots
Daryl Griffiths
Burnett Barker Solicitors
Dr Sumathi Sundram
S&V Consultants Ltd
Max Applin
Max Applin Consulting
Agenda
1. Welcome, and Introductions
Mike Burrows
2. Apologies
Rose Joy
3. Declarations of Interest and GDPR
All
4. Meeting Minutes: Panel Meeting 6th November 2019
All
5. Terms of Reference
Jason Middleton
6. New Applications for Approval (2)
Finance East
7. Small Grant Scheme Update
Jason Middleton
8. Funding, updates and Jobs Creation
Barry Henson
9. GBF Applications ‘Pipeline’
Finance East
10. PR and Marketing
Julie West
11. Any Other Business
All
Next Meeting: Wednesday 4th March 2020 at 10am in
Suffolk Suite, Center Parcs Elveden Forest Brandon, Suffolk IP27 0YZ
GBF guidelines for the panel
GBF is a Growth Deal funded grant awarding an annual allocation agreed each year. A copy of the
full GBF guidelines can be found on the LEP website https://newanglia.co.uk/growing-business-fund
Applications to the Growing Business Fund must fulfil the following criteria.
Grants can be offered to a Small Enterprises at up to a 20% intervention rate and
Intervention
up to 10% for a Medium Enterprises. However, in an assisted area, a 10% uplift is
rate
permitted (including grants to large business). The maximum permitted
intervention for buildings is 10%.
Jobs
One job is required for every £20,000 of grant funding, however, job should be well
paid and above the national living wage. All jobs must be created/based within
Norfolk or Suffolk. To encourage apprenticeships SMEs can attract £10,000 of
grant funding for each apprentice they are seeking to employ as part of their
expansion plans.
Productivity
Applicants must be able to demonstrate increased productivity as a result of their
application. How they measure productivity is something that must be measured
by the applicant, and must be agreed with SCC, so they can monitor it. For
example, it could be increased output per m2, or a time measurement like output
in a day or percentage increase per employee. Where there is a strong case for
increased productivity then the number of jobs required may be reduced.
Property
Any freehold property where a grant is being used either to buy, extend or improve
will be in the name of the trading company and attract a 10% grant only (20% AAS).
If rented there must be at least three years of unexpired lease to run.
Due
Due Diligence is undertaken by Finance East. Businesses must be sustainable and
diligence
not presenting ‘in difficulty’. pplicants must show that funding is required and
what difference it will make, for example, have they maximised other funding
sources.
Panel Members should carry out any research into the company and gain an
understanding of what is within the report, as well as other issues relating to the
project. For example. Google is a good source of information and the companies
own website
Scope of
Applications from sectors outside of the scope of the grant won’t be presented to
the grant
the panel. These include, but are not limited to primary agriculture/fisheries, care,
financial services, retail, cafes, passenger transport, energy, health and medical
services. We are unable to fund vehicles ‘for hire and reward’ or ship building.
Additional
An SME may apply for additional grants once it has been deemed that an existing
grants
application has been completed. There is no limit on number of application (or
value) that a business is able to apply for, however, applicants must be aware of
state aid compliance. They can apply for Small and GBF grants but not together.
State Aid
Most GBF are awarded under GBER guidelines unless it is beneficial to award as De
Minimis, 200,000 euros over a rolling three years period.