Submit Applications for Angus Council SME Start & Grow Business Grants (UK)

The Angus Council SME Start & Grow Business Grant is a scheme of financial assistance, funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.

Themes

• Start Up
  • Grants for starting a new business and for new businesses in their first 12 months of trading. Eligible applicants must:
    • Be engaged with Business Gateway and have a named advisor
    • Provide a Business Plan
    • Demonstrate that the business has been established for less than 12 months and that trading has started
  • Pre Start-Up businesses can apply for a maximum grant of £3,500, and are required to:
    • Have a strong business case in principle
    • Demonstrate a commitment to starting the business by end February 2025
    • Have completed the Business Gateway ‘Planning to Start Tool’
    • Have worked with an Angus Business Gateway to complete a detailed Business Plan
    • Provide a finance and financial management plan for the business, detailing other confirmed sources of investment (grants, loans, savings) and any repayment requirements
    • Provide an 18-month cashflow forecast
• Resilience
  • Grants for businesses at all stages to help run an industry standard healthy and compliant business with strong foundations. This could include support with:
    • Business finance management
    • Implementing Digital Systems
    • Improving Business Confidence and Wellness
    • Emergency Planning
    • Business Resilience and sustainability, including physical adaptations to business premises
• Workforce Development
  • Grants for businesses at all stages to support costs of developing their workforce. As your business expands, you’ll need more capacity to produce or provide your product or service, and a wider range of skills. This funding could include support towards the costs of:
    • Taking on your first PAYE employee
    • Recruiting new employees to meet a need for specialist skills and expertise
    • Offering a permanent contract to a member of staff at the end of their apprenticeship
  • Employment contracts must be for a minimum of 52 weeks.
  • New employees must be Angus residents. Family members, business partners and company directors are not eligible.
  • Applications for this theme should demonstrate how the funding will help to meet at least one of the following aims:
    • Increase sales
    • Attract new customers
    • Improve your products and services
    • Develop new products and services
  • Eligible applicants must:
    • be registered with HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) and be able to provide a PAYE reference number
    • adopt fair working practices
• Market Development
  • Grants to enable businesses to expand their market overseas or into other parts of the UK. Examples of eligible costs could include the following:
    • Transport and accommodation (where these are related to a specific business event or initiative).
    • Exhibition and trade show attendance and stand costs
    • Marketing activities and brand development
    • New product development
    • Consultancy services
  • A follow-up report outlining activity and anticipated business benefit is required following visits undertaken or stands taken at exhibitions.
• New Property
  • Grants for businesses at all stages to assist with the costs of fitting out new premises where they have been vacant for over 12 months. This is particularly (but not exclusively) for vacant Town Centre properties and aims to help improve the high street environment and stimulate an increase in footfall. Eligible applicants must:
    • Have identified a suitable property
    • Be engaged with Business Gateway and have a named advisor
    • Provide a Business Plan
• Growth
  • Grants for established businesses who are ready to look forward and improve business potential through development, growth, and adaptation. This could include support with:
    • Business Development
    • Planning and Preparing for Growth
    • Diversification
    • Scaling Up/Increasing Productivity
    • Relocation

Funding Information

• Businesses can apply for a grant of a minimum of £500 and up to a maximum of £7,000.
• Businesses can apply for Capital and/or Revenue costs.
• 100% of project costs can be met up to a maximum of £7,000 with no match funding requirements. However, project costs that exceed the maximum grant available must be met by the business.
• All funded activity must be completed, and expenditure incurred and claimed by end February 2025.
• A final report outlining the work undertaken and the anticipated benefits to the business must be submitted alongside the claim for grant drawdown.
• The grant will be paid in one instalment in arrears on submission of the final report accompanied by copies evidence of payment for approved costs.

Eligibility Criteria

• Business must be located within Angus Council boundaries
• Must be able to provide evidence of business registration/status (or as a pre-start-up they should provide a plan for business registration)
• Applications invited from Registered Companies, Sole Traders, Partnerships and Social Enterprises and Charitable Organisations that are engaged in commercial activity, and Pre-Start-Ups
• Fewer than 250 employees
• Where there are business premises, they must be registered for non-domestic rates
• Must have a dedicated business bank account, or a dedicated bank account for the sole purpose of the business and in the name of the business, operational for at least 3 months (or for pre-start-up they should provide a plan for establishing a dedicated account for the new business)
• Business must not be connected to a tax haven
• Business must have no outstanding debts to Angus Council
• Only one grant is available per business in any individual financial year
• It is preferable and, for certain themes, a requirement for businesses to relate to a Business Gateway advisor

For more information, visit Invest in Angus.