Support for business

 

Micro Business Support Grant

This grant is fully funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The Grant can provide up to 50% support up to a maximum of £3,000 for businesses with more than one full-time employee. For self-employed individuals, with no employees, the maximum grant available is up to 50% and a maximum of £1,000. 

Am I eligible?

The grant is open to businesses and social enterprises, employing 10 people or less that are based in the South Lanarkshire Council area, which meets the following criteria:

• full-time businesses actively trading for at least one month
• the project you need the grant for has not started
• based in business premises in South Lanarkshire which are owned or have a signed lease in place or home-based businesses in South Lanarkshire
• can provide the evidence of most recent (up to 3 months) income and expenses through a business bank account, including wages and salaries 
• can provide a monthly cashflow covering the next 12 months to demonstrate how the business will trade over the next year and benefit from the project
• not considering or subject to any insolvency proceedings, for example, bankruptcy, liquidation, trust deed, or similar at the time of submitting the grant application and has no employees subject to redundancy notices
• all non-domestic rates accounts are up to date or if working from home council tax accounts are up to date.  Note any repayment plans must also be up to date.
• your business is compliant with the Minimal Financial Assistance threshold which means the business has not received public sector support totalling £315,000 or more over the current and proceeding 2 financial years, including the amount requested in this grant application

What can I use the grant for?

The grant is up to a 50% contribution towards the cost of new equipment, property improvements, or other project costs such as an e-commerce website, that will help the business grow. The grant is paid after your application has been submitted in full, reviewed, and approved for payment. To help your cash flow, you will not need to pay the costs in full and then reclaim the grant from us but you will need to have at least 50% of your funds available before you apply. Any grants will be awarded based on the costs excluding VAT.

Please note that this grant is awarded at the sole discretion of South Lanarkshire Council.

This grant is not available for:

• working capital
• a contribution towards employee wages, costs of new stock, or routine maintenance
• retrospective applications for businesses that have already purchased the necessary equipment
• projects that have already started
• community groups, not-for-profit organisations, voluntary or charitable organisations
• businesses currently in or in the process of insolvency proceedings, for example, bankruptcy, liquidation, trust deed, or similar
• businesses with employees under a notice of redundancy
• any project/expenditure that:
  • is required to allow the business to meet legislative requirements
  • is replacing existing equipment on an “old for new” basis
  • is for the renovation of equipment or premises
  • includes expenditure for security systems, CCTV systems or fire alarms

Before you apply

You will be asked to upload at least 6 pieces of evidence on the application form which may take some time to gather together in the appropriate format. Please take some time to read through and gather these as the application does not allow you to save and return to complete it.

If any of these pieces of evidence are not clear when you upload them, this will delay your application as we will need to come back to you for more information.

We can accept jpegs and pdf files but we advise pdfs as the file size is smaller.

We require the following evidence in pdf format preferably:

• One clearly marked quote for each item of your proposed expenditure. This should be recent and clearly marked as a quote and show all details of the items, the cost, and the supplier. Note: You will need to have at least 50% of the costs of your quotes available to use prior to application, and confirm where these funds are from. Remember the grant is based on the costs excluding VAT. If the items are being purchased from a retailer, please provide a screenshot of the webpage and a link to the website for the item you require that clearly shows the price as the quote.
• The latest 3 months' bank statements for your business that clearly show the account name, bank, sort code, account number, and business transactions (if your business has been trading for less than three months you will provide bank statements that cover your entire trading history). This must show any project and employee costs.
• Evidence of business address – for example recent utility bill
• Most up-to-date financial records - detailed accounts, and most recent management accounts if available
• Cash flow projections that show your best estimate of your monthly income and expenses for the 12 months from the date of your application. You should use your most recent bank statement balance as your opening balance and include the costs of your project in the cash flow.  We can provide a template/guidance if required or if you’re not sure what to include please email business.support@southlanarkshire.gov.uk
• proof of your personal identity - current passport, driving licence
• proof of your home address for example a recent bill or bank correspondence (this is only required if your business operates from your home address)

Please check our frequently asked questions page for more information.

If you are successful in being awarded and paid a grant, your project will be monitored after you have received the monies and completed the project.  You will be asked to provide the following information:

• copies of full bank statements showing all relevant expenditures being made using the grant funding (please note that any payments made for expenditure in cash will not be eligible for support)
• copies of all invoices relating to relevant project expenditure
• a statement on the impact of this grant on your business, and the achievement of the outcomes you list in your application

If you would like to discuss your project before applying please email your contact details to business.support@southlanarkshire.gov.uk marked Micro Business Support Grant and we will contact you.

Converting your files to PDF

Please don’t take photos of your PC screen or phone screen as these can be blurry. If you need to do this you should use the screenshot/print screen function on your PC or phone.

When you take a photo of a document such as a bank statement sometimes the file sizes are too big, especially if you have to upload a lot of different images to your form. This can cause the form to fail and we advise converting jpegs to pdfs. You can do this in the following ways.

On a PC

• right click on the icon of the image
• select Convert to Adobe pdf
• click on the Save file icon in the top left hand corner
• select where to save it
• name it
• save

On an Android phone

• select image you want
• from the menu select print image
• select Save as pdf
• choose where to save it
• save

On an iPhone

• select the image you want
• tap the sharing button and select Print
• at the Printer options screen, use a spreading gesture with your fingers on the image preview to show Save as pdf
• select Share the converted photo as PDF and choose where to save it

Online - You can also convert jpegs to PDF at www.adobe.com

Once you have all the evidence required in one place, please start your application. If you have any queries please email us at business.support@southlanarkshire.gov.uk.

Please check our frequently asked questions page for more information.

If you would like to discuss your project before applying please email your contact details to business.support@southlanarkshire.gov.uk marked Micro Business Support Grant and we will contact you.