Has anyone had any succes accessing EU funding?
Discussion
Just wondered if anyone had enjoyed any success accessing EU or other business funding from Government?
A friend put me onto the idea and I've fired off an email to our local council but as a busy beaver just wondered if it's actually worth putting time into or not.
We have one business currently buying a building and the other one looking at some expansion that will take on another few staff in the new year.
A friend put me onto the idea and I've fired off an email to our local council but as a busy beaver just wondered if it's actually worth putting time into or not.
We have one business currently buying a building and the other one looking at some expansion that will take on another few staff in the new year.
Do you live in any of these countries?
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
fridaypassion said:
Are you guys being deliberately thick?
Do you not think this type of funding will remain in place through the transitional period? We are a loooong way from leaving the EU even f it still does actually happen.
Anyway meeting set up for next week will report back.
I would be massively surprised if it will remain in place during the transition period. Do you not think this type of funding will remain in place through the transitional period? We are a loooong way from leaving the EU even f it still does actually happen.
Anyway meeting set up for next week will report back.
Is that the case? Good news if so.
fridaypassion said:
Regardless we are in the EU now and any funds that are to be allocated for this year will be in place and I would expect that will be the case for at least a couple of years yet.
Fair enough.I'd have thought all the funds will have been allocated this financial year but there could be some still available I suppose.
The local council is normally a good place to start. They will have a small business accelerator fund or some such. It's generally targeted in specific business areas they want to grow with new jobs as the focus .
Edited to add: if you get a decent advisor and you are in a business sector that's om their lost you may get somewhere. If not, it's like pulling teeth.
We have just been awarded a grant from an EU fund. Ours was slightly different from yours as we gained ours in order to purchase a new piece of equipment which would then produce a new job. They may have something which is more suited for your needs though, so may be worth giving them a shout www.velocitygrowthhub.com
EU funding has been key to my own business, directly and indirectly.
This and any government funding is dependant upon the nature of your business, the number of jobs that could be created and where the business is based. For example, if you're a manufacturer in Hull and need £20k to boost productivity that creates five new jobs, funders will trip over themselves to help. If you run a start-up law firm in Godalming and need £2k for a computer network....then unlikely you'd be successful.
You have to have a defined requirement for the grant describing exactly what it will be used for, why you need it and what your anticipated outcomes will be.
Capital grants are far easier to come by than for covering staff costs and certainly operational costs.
The majority of grant pots available at the moment are match funding that require you to spend all the money first and then claim 50% back later.
The sectors and activities that tend to attract the greatest degree of funding are Environmental, Research and Development, Training (providing and receiving) International Development (boosting exports - a lot available here), Creative Industries and some areas of IT.
Be prepared for a lot of admin. That required for applying is the easiest bit. You will need to account for everything you spend, report on it and more. If you do not follow procedures then you will not get the money, which on the match funding grants could be quite damaging.
Don’t let any of that put you off looking or applying. Just be prepared to accept that hoops need to be jumped through and allow for the time needed. As mentioned, advisors exists and can be useful but of course, they cost money. I would see how you get on yourself before going that route.
We can argue the rights and wrongs of this but will not change the fact that the grant market for EU funding for UK companies has and will continue to shrink to nothing. Some do still exist but is a question of not hanging around to apply!
We were two years into an EU supported programme opening up some very nice opportunities in India, Three fully funded trips and support on the ground. That all got closed down. Nothing stopping us going alone but cashflow doesn’t allow that at the moment and the leverage the EU had at the levels we needed is no longer there so much tougher to progress and a much higher risk.
Many of the UK business grants used EU money so there has been a shrinking of what is available domestically too. Hopefully that will change.
Aside from your local authority, if you have a local business network/forum/group for your sector, they can be a good source of information, support and signposting to possible pots.
HTH and good luck.
This and any government funding is dependant upon the nature of your business, the number of jobs that could be created and where the business is based. For example, if you're a manufacturer in Hull and need £20k to boost productivity that creates five new jobs, funders will trip over themselves to help. If you run a start-up law firm in Godalming and need £2k for a computer network....then unlikely you'd be successful.
You have to have a defined requirement for the grant describing exactly what it will be used for, why you need it and what your anticipated outcomes will be.
Capital grants are far easier to come by than for covering staff costs and certainly operational costs.
The majority of grant pots available at the moment are match funding that require you to spend all the money first and then claim 50% back later.
The sectors and activities that tend to attract the greatest degree of funding are Environmental, Research and Development, Training (providing and receiving) International Development (boosting exports - a lot available here), Creative Industries and some areas of IT.
Be prepared for a lot of admin. That required for applying is the easiest bit. You will need to account for everything you spend, report on it and more. If you do not follow procedures then you will not get the money, which on the match funding grants could be quite damaging.
Don’t let any of that put you off looking or applying. Just be prepared to accept that hoops need to be jumped through and allow for the time needed. As mentioned, advisors exists and can be useful but of course, they cost money. I would see how you get on yourself before going that route.
fridaypassion said:
Are you guys being deliberately thick?
Do you not think this type of funding will remain in place through the transitional period? We are a loooong way from leaving the EU even f it still does actually happen.
Your optimism is, I’m afraid somewhat overstated. Many of the EU business grant pots began to shrink for UK companies in the months following the vote. Some have been removed from UK applications. The reason is that the benefits that would be gained by UK receivers would be enjoyed when we are no longer in the EU. Do you not think this type of funding will remain in place through the transitional period? We are a loooong way from leaving the EU even f it still does actually happen.
We can argue the rights and wrongs of this but will not change the fact that the grant market for EU funding for UK companies has and will continue to shrink to nothing. Some do still exist but is a question of not hanging around to apply!
We were two years into an EU supported programme opening up some very nice opportunities in India, Three fully funded trips and support on the ground. That all got closed down. Nothing stopping us going alone but cashflow doesn’t allow that at the moment and the leverage the EU had at the levels we needed is no longer there so much tougher to progress and a much higher risk.
Many of the UK business grants used EU money so there has been a shrinking of what is available domestically too. Hopefully that will change.
Aside from your local authority, if you have a local business network/forum/group for your sector, they can be a good source of information, support and signposting to possible pots.
HTH and good luck.
ReverendCounter said:
fridaypassion said:
Are you guys being deliberately thick?
Do you not think this type of funding will remain in place through the transitional period?
And beyond. Seems some are unfamiliar with the term 'ringfenced'.Do you not think this type of funding will remain in place through the transitional period?
Good luck.
desolate said:
StevieBee said:
My own experience suggests the fence has many holes!
Do you think funding is available beyond April?Where EU funding has been allocated previously and is being paid over a period of time to UK firms or organisations, this will remain until the course of payments have reached their originally intended conclusion regardless of the situation with Brexit.
There are some grant 'pots' that were set up prior to the vote and those pots have yet to be fully spent. UK firms and organisations are able to apply to these and should, in theory, have equal chance of being awarded funding on account of us still being in the EU. However, there is some evidence to suggest that applications from UK companies post vote are being declined in greater numbers than previously. A Community Radio station that I used to run and now have an arms-lenght connection with, received £5,000 form the EU Communities Fund in 2007. Each year after, it applied for a £500 grant from the same fund and always received it but last year the application was denied. The example I gave regarding our foray into India is another. These are the holes in the ring fence I refer to.
Then you have the funding pots set up post the vote. Whilst there is nothing stopping UK companies applying, the chances are it being successful are as good as nil because the benefits that would be reported would likely fall at time after we have left the EU either in full or in part.
So in answer to your question, I would say that EU funding for UK companies has already begun to decline and would expect this decline even further if not cut off completely after April.
However, what one would expect is that the money the UK no longer sends to the EU (which contributed to the grant pots that we were able to access) will instead be made available directly from government. This will of course be dependent in the cost of the 'divorce bill'.
The one area that has become far more buoyant in terms of grant funding is export support. Post Brexit, the UK will need to ramp up exports and the Department for International trade is becoming increasingly more generous in terms of the financial support offered to companies looking to boost overseas trade. We received a 50% grant for a trip to Indonesia in August, a trip which appears to be starting to generate some nice business. And looking like we'll being doing the same in Sri Lanka early next year.
The other factor about EU donor activity is where EU money funds a third party that then uses this money to buy goods and services. For example, the EU awards €50m to a municipality in, say, Romania to help it improve its waste management and that municipality then requires services unavailable locally; those projects are then tendered across the EU. This is where most of my international work comes from and last year, we began to see the following statement at the foot of emails announcing new tenders:
So the short of it is; get in quick but don't hold your breath. The caveat being that we don't yet fully know how the exit plan is going to shape out.
But if I were a German or French tax payer, I might well raise an eyebrow as to why some of my tax is being given to companies and organisations in a country that is no longer part of the EU. I suspect that this sort of scrutiny is driving political pressure to taper off the grants heading back across the channel.
Edited by StevieBee on Thursday 22 November 08:45
I've been a grant consultant in Wales for 20 years. I work solely for commercial businesses that are loking to create jobs. As far as Wales is concerned it is actually a fallacy that it is EU money used for the main scheme covering job creation. That main scheme has had many names (RSA, AIG, SIF, RBF, BF) but has recently been re-branded as the Economic Futures Fund. The money for this has always come direct from the UK Government - it just has to be administered under EU rules.
Whilst the economy will ultimately drive the success of Wales, the Welsh Government has cut the amount available under this scheme every year. Driven by socialist dogma, Government and Local authorities prefer to hoover up EU money and spend it on projects that, ultimately, prove to be a waste. One example would be the creation of 10 Techniums back in the early 2000's at a cost of almost a quarter of a billion pounds (that's a best estimate as the WG have always tried to hide the true cost). This was Government interference on a huge scale in the economic market - it decided what business wanted rather than asking businesses what they wanted. When looking at the value for money of those Techniums, it has been estimated that each direct job created has cost in the region of £420,000. Under the current scheme you would be lucky to break the £10k per job barrier.
This waste has proliferated throughtout Wales and I believe this is why Wales ultimately voted to Leave. Everyone has seen the sheer waste of money on things draped in Blue plaques - none of which appears to have benefited them. It has, however, kept many civil servants in cushy jobs. Maybe that's why the Welsh Government think differently to the genral population.
Whilst the economy will ultimately drive the success of Wales, the Welsh Government has cut the amount available under this scheme every year. Driven by socialist dogma, Government and Local authorities prefer to hoover up EU money and spend it on projects that, ultimately, prove to be a waste. One example would be the creation of 10 Techniums back in the early 2000's at a cost of almost a quarter of a billion pounds (that's a best estimate as the WG have always tried to hide the true cost). This was Government interference on a huge scale in the economic market - it decided what business wanted rather than asking businesses what they wanted. When looking at the value for money of those Techniums, it has been estimated that each direct job created has cost in the region of £420,000. Under the current scheme you would be lucky to break the £10k per job barrier.
This waste has proliferated throughtout Wales and I believe this is why Wales ultimately voted to Leave. Everyone has seen the sheer waste of money on things draped in Blue plaques - none of which appears to have benefited them. It has, however, kept many civil servants in cushy jobs. Maybe that's why the Welsh Government think differently to the genral population.
Dissident Dragon said:
This waste has proliferated throughtout Wales and I believe this is why Wales ultimately voted to Leave. Everyone has seen the sheer waste of money on things draped in Blue plaques - none of which appears to have benefited them
I think this is the nub, isn't it. When you drive around Europe and see the EU flag next to new highways, schools, hospitals it sort of reaffirms support. Less so when you see it in the foyer of some non-discrtipt endeavour that as you say, has limited local impact.
fridaypassion said:
Had a meeting today. EU funds as suspected are committed and secure until 2021 at the earliest and a strong belief within their organisation that Brexit won't happen anyway which was interesting. Looks like we have a decent chance at getting a bit of funding so was well worthwhile.
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