OxLEP Business is set to deliver around £1.2million of funding to companies across the county this autumn and is encouraging organisations to find out if they could benefit from the one of several significant business funds.
OxLEP have today (22 September) announced a significant level of funding is soon-to-be-made available to Oxfordshire companies, set to further boost the county’s business community as it continues its collective recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
OxLEP Business – the business support arm of OxLEP – hopes to reach out to as wide a group of Oxfordshire-based companies as possible and tell them that: ‘there may be a grant for you’, as a collection of funds are due to be allocated to eligible businesses in the coming months.
Several funds are either set to be launched or deadlines for fund applications are due to close, with a total funding pot of around £1.2million collectively available to qualifying businesses.
Funding opportunities open to businesses include:
The Visitor Economy Grant Scheme:
This scheme aims to back the sector’s ongoing re-emergence from Covid-19 through a variety of positive interventions, with the scheme providing funds to eligible businesses, with grants ranging from £5,000 to £24,999 per business.
Funding for this scheme was secured by OxLEP via the government’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund.
One funding round will open on 3 October with a second round expected in April next year, should funds still be available.
Innovation Support for Business ‘Go-Create’ grants:
Made available via the ERDF-funded Innovation Support for Business programme, ‘Go Create’ grants are designed to support tech and non-tech businesses to implement innovation projects, develop prototypes and prove concepts, to assist with early-stage development work and the exploitation of intellectual property; or to promote the use of innovation to bring new products, processes or services to the market.
Grants are available on a competitive basis from £5,000 to £50,000 per business with applications currently ongoing.
The Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Grant Scheme:
A product of OxLEP Skills’ Social Contract programme – also supported through funding secured by OxLEP via the government’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund – see grants from £1,000 to £3,000 made available to eligible businesses, helping remove potential barriers experienced by apprentices to either start or complete their respective qualification. Applications for this grant scheme are open now.
Despite in the 18 months following the Covid-19 outbreak OxLEP engaging with 2,670 businesses across Oxfordshire, OxLEP Business are determined to reach out to an even wider pool of organisations, supporting even more companies to understand that they too could benefit from its financial support packages.
Helen Brind – Growth Hub Manager at OxLEP – said: “As we head into the autumn and winter months, it is true to say that we have never had such a variety of funding opportunities available to Oxfordshire businesses and we are determined to ensure as many companies as possible are aware of what is potentially available to them at such an important moment for our business community.
“Over the past few years, we have built-up a first-class reputation of supporting businesses at both critical times in their respective growth journeys, as well as during times of economic challenge, in particular during the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.
“Our funds can really help to make a significant and positive impact. We have already supported thousands of companies across Oxfordshire, but it’s important that all of our business community are aware of the wide range of support that we offer at what likely remains a very critical time for many.”
To help assess which business support fund is best-suited to individual companies, OxLEP Business wishes to encourage companies to initially complete its business support tool, which will help – not only triage businesses to the right funding opportunity where applicable – but it will also mean that they will receive a bespoke business action plan to further signpost organisations to additional, fully-funded support that might be of value to them.
Interested businesses are also being encouraged to sign-up to upcoming webinars in October, including one on the Visitor Economy Grant Scheme which takes place on 3 October.
Businesses interested in applying for an Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Grant Scheme contribution are being encouraged to submit an application as soon as possible.
Helen Brind added: “Our business support tool is our ‘shop window’ into all of our business support opportunities – therefore, we would encourage interested companies to complete this short task to ensure we can best direct them, including which grant scheme they may be best suited to.”
