Warwickshire County Council is reminding small businesses in the supply chain to look into the new ‘Adapt and Diversify’ grants. The grants are available for small businesses in the retail, hos...
Warwickshire County Council is reminding small businesses in the supply chain to look into the new ‘Adapt and Diversify’ grants.
The grants are available for small businesses in the retail, hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors through the new Adapt and Diversify scheme.
The council has also made it clear that it is also seeking applications from the supply chains for these sectors, who will also have been adversely affected by the pandemic, to support them through the difficult period.
Grants ranging from £2,500 to £5,000 are to be made available towards the costs of specialist advice – for example, accountants, legal advice, digital specialists – or up to £20,000 for accessing specialist expertise and purchasing equipment or refurbishing property that will help the business to diversify their offer and safeguard their immediate future and the jobs of their workforce.
The county is making £1.5m available to businesses from the scheme, which draws on funding made available through the Local Restrictions Tier status, and is looking to allocate the grants in two rounds.
£1 million will be available in the first round on a first come, first served basis and the scheme will remain open until the available funding has been allocated. A second round will be held later in the year.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Warwickshire County Council’s Leader and portfolio holder for Economic Development, said: "Warwickshire is committed to the economic recovery of the county and these key sectors, which have made such a huge contribution to employment in, and the prosperity of, Warwickshire can count on our support.
“We appreciate that many businesses in the supply chain of these sectors will also have been hit hard and I want to make it clear to them that they should also look to apply for a grant.
"We will work quickly to make sure that applications are processed and the money allocated as soon as possible to give our local businesses the financial support they need."
The grants are part of a broader range of financial support for business available through the proposed Warwickshire Recovery Investment Fund, a package of support aimed at revitalising and repurposing Warwickshire’s economy over the next five years.
Lee Osborne FSB Development Manager Coventry and Warwickshire said “With small businesses being the backbone of the local economy, it is positive to see the County Council taking proactive steps to put together a package of financial support and measures that will be of value for small firms and importantly for those in the supply chain.
“It has been an incredibly tough past year for those in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors and their supply chains and these measures to access specialist advice and expertise will not only offer immediate support but can also help to stimulate growth across the county and help recovery from this crisis.
“I would urge those businesses that have been adversely impacted in those sectors and importantly further down the supply chains to take the time to submit an application.”
The scheme has opened to applications and will close as soon as the funding has been allocated.
Information about the grants will be available on the County Council’s Covid-19 support pages
Warwickshire County Council has played a major role in supporting local businesses through loans and grants since the start of the pandemic. It is currently delivering two major grant schemes through its Capital Investment Fund to complement Government support:
- Small Capital Grants - up to £35,000 towards the costs of capital investments.
- Survive, Sustain and Grow - new grants of up to £10,000 towards the costs of capital investments to help business recovery plans. These grants are only available as part of the Survive, Sustain and Grow business support programme.