North of Tyne Business Support Fund Grant Application

Eligibility

The North of Tyne Business Support Fund provides grants towards bespoke business improvement projects – businesses in the North of Tyne Catchment are able to access up to 50% funding towards projects costing between £3000 and £8000.

  • The fund is only able to support certain types of project where external expertise is being purchased to develop the business – capital purchases, printing and advertising costs cannot be funded.
  • When we’ve confirmed your eligibility, you’ll need to supply a written quote from your chosen provider within two weeks. You must be in a position to start your project when you receive your funding contract.
  • Please note: This application form is for businesses based in the North of Tyne catchment only, and not all businesses will be eligible for funding. Completing this form will give us the information we need to assess your eligibility against the UK Shared Prosperity Fund criteria. Submission of the application does not guarantee the award of a grant.

Completing your application.

Your application for this fund requires some basic financial information about your business as well as details of previous grant funding.

  • Please scroll down this page to check that you have the required information to hand before you begin and if not, please return to the home page and come back to the form when you have gathered the information you need.
  • Your application form cannot be saved, once you have started to complete the form, please do not navigate away from this page, other than by clicking the ‘Submit Application’ button below.
  • This grant will be awarded under Minimal Financial Assistance and as such is subject to State Aid Cumulation rules. The company cannot receive more than £315,000 combined from schemes subject to cumulation rules and we will require details of any state aid received during the current period to date and the full 2 years previous periods (April 1st is the start of a year for this purpose). Please note if your company is more than 25% owned/controlled by another then any state aid they have received may also need to be counted.

If you would like this form in a different format please contact us.

Please note – Due to the expected demand for the grant, applications will be subject to a competitive review and it is anticipated that not all applications will be offered a grant.

Please note – The funds for this program are currently fully allocated. We anticipate that some of the clients that have had offers may not proceed, or use less than the full amount offered to them, in which case there may be funds to reallocate. If you are interested in being considered for any potential funding that becomes available from this please complete the full application.

If you would prefer to be notified should any funds become available or of any further grant programs we launch you can do so here Funding notification request

Before you start

Please read the following statements and tick the checkboxes to confirm that:

The Business is based in the North of Tyne catchment (i.e. you pay your Business Rates to one of Northumberland County Council, North Tyneside Council or Newcastle City Council)
The Business is Trading (i.e. for early stage businesses we require proof that a Sales Invoice has been issued)
I understand that my project cannot have commenced and I cannot be invoiced by my Provider, or make any payment to my Provider, until after I have received a signed Funding Contract from NBSL
I understand that this is a retrospective Grant i.e. businesses must be able to pay for the costs of their project and claim the Grant once everything is completed (all work complete and all payments to providers have been made)

Where did you hear about this programme?

About the business that will claim the grant

Please note this fund is only available for businesses based in Northumberland, Newcastle or North Tyneside.

Who we should contact

Please note a copy of the application and subsequent queries/information will be sent to this address.

The type of business

Please select all that are applicable

Business size

Is your business part of a group – does it own more than a quarter of or is it more than a quarter owned by, another business?
Based on a 35+ hour week counting as full time, any staff working part time count at the fraction of 35 hours. Please do not include any unpaid, volunteer, apprentices or agency staff.
Income/turnover per year
Balance sheet value
Has your organisation undertaken any Research & Development activity in the last financial year?
Have you undertaken any product or process innovations in the last three financial years?

Business Projections

The following section covers the past, current and future performance of your business, and it is vital that these figures are both accurate (for past performance) and realistic (for current and future performance). For the last financial year we require figures from the financial period that has most recently ended, where these are not yet finalised best estimates from your internal record keeping is required.

Turnover (£)

Net profit before tax (£)

Depreciation (£)

Total wage costs (£)

Average count of male employees as full time equivalents (based on a 35+ hour week counting as full time, any staff working part time count at the fraction of 35 hours).

Average count of female employees as full time equivalents (based on a 35+ hour week counting as full time, any staff working part time count at the fraction of 35 hours).

Source of business income

Approximate percentage of income from trade to:

Approximate percentage of income from trade in:

Business improvement needs

Please note that the North of Tyne Business Support Fund can only support the costs of external expertise, it cannot fund capital purchases (e.g. machinery, computer equipment or software), printing or advertising costs.

Please indicate what your business improvement needs are
Are there any existing jobs in your organisation that could be lost if the project is not carried out?
Do you anticipate the project to directly lead to an increase in any of the following:
Please indicate your approximate budget for the project

Previous funding support

I understand that the North of Tyne Business Support Fund is part financed by the UK Government and therefore the amount of State Aid subsidised support my business may receive is capped.

Has the business (or group if not autonomous) received any State Aid subsidy under Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA), Services of Public Economic Interest Assistance (SPEIA) or Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), since the 1st of April 2024?

Marketing and Research Contact Permission

NBSL (Northumberland Business Service Ltd) is committed to protecting your personal information. We collect and process your personal information following the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

By submitting this form, you are giving NBSL your consent to process your personal information only for the purposes of administering your grant application. This could include any of the following:

  • Contacting you to obtain further information about your application for funding.
  • Contacting you to obtain information about the progress of your project.
  • Contacting you to obtain updated information about the performance of the business.
  • Contacting you to complete research into the effectiveness of the programme on behalf of the funder.
  • Supplying information to the relevant funder for reporting, monitoring and evaluation purposes.

We will only store your personal information for as long as we are contractually required to do so by the funders. To use your personal information for any other reason, we require your consent. We would like to send you occasional emails letting you know about:

  • Funding and support that we have to offer.
  • Funding and support available from other enterprise agencies or similar organisations.
  • Free or fully funded local events.
  • Other support available to help you to grow and develop your business.

To subscribe to these emails, please select the ‘Yes’ box below. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any emails we send, by emailing us on [email protected] or by writing to: Data Protection Officer, Northumberland Business Service Ltd, 6 Esther Court, Wansbeck Business Park, Rotary Parkway, Ashington, NE63 8AP.

Would you like to receive occasional emails from us about our grant funding, funded events and other related business support?

Declaration

I confirm that the information that I have provided in this application form is correct and complete. I understand and accept that if I knowingly withhold information, or provide false or misleading information, this may result in my application being rejected; or if I receive funding as a result that my case will be referred to the appropriate authorities for full investigation.

I have read and understood the above statement:

Delivered by NBSL, this project is funded by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority through its Integrated Settlement.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness heads the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) serving an area of 2.2 million people including County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland. Sunderland’s Business Support Programme is funded by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority through its Integrated Settlement. For more information visit www.northeast-ca.gov.uk.