Stafford Borough Council has launched a UKSPF grant scheme to help support small to medium rural based businesses (SMEs), that are located within Stafford Borough.

This fund is open to those businesses where a minimum of 75% of the business income is from sales to other businesses.

A limited fund of £500,000 is available and applications will be processed in date order.

Grants of up to £5000 will be available to support businesses in rural areas who have plans to develop new products and services. A match fund of 20% will be required and can be discussed with the business advisor as to how this can be met.

Rural areas are determined by Stafford Borough Council's rural ward areas.

Applications are invited from businesses operating in the following sectors

• Manufacturing
• Wholesale
• Construction
• Logistics, storage, transport
• Professional, scientific and technical services
• Information and communication
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing
• Other business to business service and product providers

Eligibility

Please do not apply if any of the following applies to you, as you will not be eligible

• Your business is not in the defined rural area
• Your trading premises are not in Stafford Borough
• Your business in not in the sectors listed above
• Your business operates from domestic premises
• You cannot provide a full set of certified trading accounts for 2022/23 or management accounts for the same period
• More than 25% of business income is generated by non-business consumers
• You employ more than 250 full-time equivalent persons
• You have an annual turnover exceeding £40 million 

Examples of eligible expenditure

• Website design
• Marketing materials for new product or service
• Specialist Advice on New Product Design, Financial, Planning
• Capital equipment 
• Advertising, PR, Publicity to launch new product or service
• Recruitment, training and skills to support development
• Costs associated with taking on additional business space

Application Process

Applications will be reviewed in order of receipt and a business advisor will be in touch to discuss the business needs, the application and how the grant will help with the growth plans for the business.

Documents required to support full application

• Completed Application form
• Full set of trading accounts
• Business plan detailing growth plans
• Bank statement clearly showing name of bank, account name, number and sort code
• Three quotes for each item/service to be funded to demonstrate best value for money

Applicants are advised to read the Rural Business to Business Grant Policy before completing the application form.

Apply Here

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