A new grant scheme was announced by the Government last week. The government are providing £20 million IT funding for small business to use to upgrade their technology, new equipment and also hire professionals to get them through the pandemic.

Further guidance is required on this and we will detail this when this is released. What we are aware of is:

• 100% grant funded, so not capital matching or financial contribution will be required from the business itself
• The funding has been allocated to Growth Hubs within each Local Enterprise Partnership area in line with the England European Regional Development Fund Programme but with a minimum of £250,000 for all areas
• All grants must be awarded by 28 February 2021

The grants have been made available to ensure small business can purchase new equipment, source and afford quality professional advice to ensure they can adapt, diversify and exploit business opportunities.

We will provide further guidance on this as soon as we can. It is expected the funding will be live mid to late August.

For further details, contact the Spirare Team.