North East Business Support fund

NBSL have been able to secure further investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to the value of £1.6m to support 730 businesses.

The North East Business Support fund has been extended until March 2023.

The programme will offer Grants for Business Improvement Projects that use External Expertise and the financial support will remain the same:

County Durham businesses:

up to 40% funding for projects costing between £2,500 and £8,000, click here for more information.

Northumberland or Tyne & Wear

up to 35% funding for projects costing between £3,000 and £8,000 – more information here.

Business Improvement Projects eligible for a Grant

Listed below are the main types of project that we can fund – if anyone has a project in mind that’s not on the list ask them to get in touch and we’ll try to help:

Business growth planning, business expansion planning & strategy development
Change management, Quality Management Systems and Process Improvement
Financial Restructuring and Succession planning
HR Strategy planning and development
Product development/diversification and new market development
Marketing planning & strategic marketing plans
Design costs for marketing
Development of animations/video production
Web design/development

Main Eligibility Criteria

The business must be an SME with:

fewer than 250 full time equivalent employees
an Annual Turnover not exceeding € 50 Million and Balance Sheet value not exceeding €43 Million
credible plans to grow / recover from the impact of Covid (staff or turnover)

If the business is involved in any kind of group structure – either being partially of fully owned by another businesses or having partial or full ownership of another business – NBSL would need details to establish eligibility.

It may be worth noting that as this is an extension to the North East Business Support Fund, we are unable to provide funding to businesses who have already accessed support from the programme – this includes:

Businesses who have received a full Grant from the North East Business Support Fund between February 2018 to December 2020
Businesses in Northumberland or Tyne and Wear who have received a Covid Response (SME restart and Recovery / Kick-starting Tourism) Grant. County Durham businesses are not impacted by this restriction

For information on funding, visit our dedicated business support page.

By NEPIC

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