The maximum grant available from our Business Recovery and Growth Fund has increased from £20,000 to £50,000.

The fund was established as part of our response to the covid-19 pandemic, and has awarded over £760,000 in grants to 53 businesses to date, with a further 19 applications currently being assessed.

As a result of the grants awarded, businesses reported they would create 47 jobs immediately with another 188 within 12 months, safeguard 878 jobs and forecast an increased turnover of £19.2 million

“The existing Business Recovery and Growth Fund grants have offered local businesses much needed assistance to recover from the pandemic and adapt for the future,” said Councillor Ayeshah Khan, Convener of the Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee.

“Feedback from the business community indicated that increased grants would enable investment in larger scale projects such as converting or fitting out commercial premises and introducing advanced industrial plant and machinery to expand into new markets.

“As a result, we have increased the grant level to £50,000 to help local businesses to grow and develop, bringing more jobs and prosperity to the area and boosting our local economy.”

Grants from the Business Recovery and Growth Fund provide up to 50% of eligible project costs (excluding VAT) and are available to micro, small or medium-sized businesses (up to 250 employees) for capital and infrastructure projects. Grants are also available for consultancy support up to £5,000 and exhibition and training support up to £4,000. 

The Business Recovery and Growth Fund is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The project is receiving up to £2,033,496 of funding from the fund as part of the Scotland’s European Structural Fund (ESIF) Programmes for 2014 – 2020. The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit their webpages or follow @scotgovESIF.