More About SIF Grants in Flintshire
We have been busy this week trying to find out what SIF Grants are available to whom in Flintshire. Here is a summary:
Flintshire is a part of the Competitive EU region. This means that there is a limit of 20% to the level of grant available to a business to buy capital. There is a grant available of up to 50% for services. These are called revenue grants.
To get a grant of any kind, you need to be a business to business organisation. This means that your customers need to also be businesses, and you rarely sell to individuals. e.g. a corner shop may sell to people who work and own businesses, but their trade is based on selling individual needs to individuals. Wholesalers sell the same goods, but sell them to people who are going to sell them on as a main part of their business.
The next important factor is where are your competitors. If your customer base is within the local area, and within that area you have a few companies who do the same as you, then there will be no grant available to you. The idea is that if you shouldn’t get a financial advantage on another local company. Grants are meant to give the area a boost on a national or international basis.
Finally, there is the method of payment. Once you have filled in the form, sent it off and got approval, you need to pay for the goods. You will then get a cheque back for either 20% or 50% of the invoice total – depending on the criteria of the grant.
You can use any company to supply you with your needs, however, the grant offered will be capped at £10,000. This means, in the case of a £55,000 invoice for capital equipment, only the first £10k of the full 20% of the invoice is paid as a grant. i.e. While 20% of £55k is £11k, the grant cheque coming back to you will only be £10k.
If the same grant was a revenue grant, where you can get up to 50% funding, the cheque coming back would still only be £10k.
Finally, make sure that you get 3 quotes and that you have not only a full set of accounts, but you have a sensible idea of what sort of benefit your grant funded purchase is going to bring your business. e.g. creation of a number of jobs, higher profit etc.
If you would like more information on business grants in Flintshire, feel free to contact the team on 01352 70 32 24.
