South East Business Boost Grants Kent

The South East Business Boost Grant could help you with a financial contribution to help boost your business.
South East Business Boost Grant Kent

The final tranche of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) has now been secured to support businesses in Essex, Kent and East Sussex, who are seeking to increase capacity & develop economically.

The funding is exclusively for small to medium sized businesses (SME’s) or start-ups based in the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) area.

Growth grants are now available of between £1,000 and £10,000. The grant can fund up to 30% of the total cost of eligible goods or services.

The grant can contribute to the purchase of a wide range of goods and services related to increasing sales, improving productivity and boosting profitability. From market research, to new machinery, if it helps your business to grow then you could potentially re-claim 30% of the cost up to a maximum grant of £10,000.

Grant funding from South East Business Boost may be used to cover the following types of expenditure:

  • Business Development: funding required enabling expansion of the business (for example research costs)
  • Plant and Machinery: costs of re-tooling (upgrades) and installation of machinery and hardware and training required to operate it.
  • Intangible Assets: including costs of purchasing new patents, IT, software and licences
  • Consultancy Costs: including business planning and sector specialists

In order to be eligible for an ERDF grant a business must:

  • Be a small to medium sized business (with under 250 staff and a turn over under €50m);
  • Be spending on a project/purchase that has a growth impact on the business (not day-to-day running costs);
  • Have received a grant offer letter from SEBB before starting the project.

The following sectors are ineligible for ERDF funding:

  • Fishery and aquaculture sectors which are supported through EFF;
  • Primary production, processing and marketing of agricultural products, which is supported through EAFRD;  The coal, steel and shipbuilding sectors;
  • The synthetic fibres sector;
  • Establishments providing generalised (school age) education should not be supported as this is a statutory duty on local authorities; Banking and insurance companies;
  • Charities and voluntary sector organisations, that are not using a trading arm, are ineligible;
  • Membership organisations that are politically affiliated cannot be supported by ERDF funding, i.e. Conservative Clubs, etc.

Grant applications will be assessed within four weeks of being submitted and funding will be provided retrospectively against evidence of payments for approved items. To find out whether your business and your project is eligible for the funding and to get your application underway, please contact your regional Growth Hub (Kent and Medway Growth Hub) and mention the info you saw on this site.

South East Business Boost Grant Kent