How can UK government funding help my small business?

Government funding, in other words “money” for your small business if successful at obtaining can be used for so many things.

If you get a government grant or loan, or tax break or a subsidy you can use it for various purposes. These purposes include but are not limited to:

• Starting up a small business
• Expanding your existing small business
• Hiring and training employees
• Purchasing tools and equipment
• Paying for advertising and marketing
• Paying for research and development
• Improving your cash flow
• And more…

Important thing to remember is that there are hundreds of funding agencies and even more individual funding programmes available from the UK government.

Each agency or programme has unique criteria that a small business owner has to meet in order to be eligible and to apply for the funding.

In order to figure out the specific criteria, you have to know which programmes may be right for you and your small business.

Programmes can be different for each location, industry, funding need. Not all funding agencies provide funding for every region, or industry and every funding requirement.

As a small business owner in Belfast, in the agriculture industry needing money to purchase tools and equipment you would want to apply to only programmes that can help with that. A programme in London for technology wouldnt be able to help, and applying would only waste time.

When searching for the programmes that may be right for you, follow these search factors:

• Your location
• Your industry
• Your funding needs
• Amount you need
• When you need the funds

By following that criteria, you will be a step closer to government funding programmes that may be a better fit for you and your small business.

Funding Tip: When applying for funding be sure to break down your needs to specific things. Instead of asking for a large chunk, break it up into smaller chunks to ensure you don’t eat up the full budget of the agency.

If you haven’t already started your funding search, the sooner you do it the better. As funding programmes are always changing, as soon as a programme is announced you want to apply – not just before the deadline is up.

Stay on top of available funding programmes and find the ones which may be right for your small business.  Be sure to use our Funding Database to help locate all available programmes in the UK.