Introduction According to a recent survey from Purbeck Insurance Services, UK SMEs are increasingly seeking business loans for working capital to keep their business going. Demand for small business loans jumped by 45% year on year in 2024 versus 2023 with 33% of all loans within the final quarter of 2024 being for working capital … Read more
It has been a year since the UK secured its associate country status agreement with the £80bn Horizon Europe research programme. In order to commemorate this, in 2025 the UK Government has announced a range of new initiatives to encourage further UK participation in the programme and allow researchers, innovators, and businesses to fully capitalise … Read more
Introduction Most people are aware that a large proportion of support to businesses in the UK comes in the form of direct financial aid, such as grants and loans. However, there is also on offer non-financial support where the UK Government, local authorities and other organisations fund business support packages and vouchers to access specific … Read more
Introduction As of 1 April 2024 the functions of funding bodies Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been transferred back over to local authorities in England. This means that a large amount of local development activity funding that was previously provided by central government to local areas via the LEPs is now being distributed via local … Read more
What Funding Is Available To UK Businesses From The EU? Since Brexit, the funding agreements between the UK and the EU have changed. The UK has lost access to key funds such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which was previously responsible for a large number of improvement projects across the UK. However, agreements … Read more
What Is The Catapult Network? The Catapult Network is part of Innovate UK and is a Government backed set of 9 leading innovation centres covering high-tech sectors in 65 locations across the UK. Each Catapult has an industry speciality with a central research hub and supporting local hubs in various strategic locations. Catapults contain cutting … Read more
What Opportunities Can UK Universities Provide for Businesses? According to recent research, it is estimated that UK universities will provide over £11.6bn worth of support, funding and services to start-ups and SMEs over the next 5 years. This includes specialist one-to-one advice, providing access to the latest research equipment and facilities to help push cutting … Read more
Although the announcement of the halt in funding for LEPs was made in the 2023 budget it only came into effect on April 1 this year. Since then central government funding has stopped but LEPs still continue to exist (government money only accounted for 10-20% of their overall funding). However, the handing over of core … Read more
What Opportunities Does Innovate UK Provide for UK Businesses? Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency and part of the Government’s UK Research and Innovation department. It provides funding and support for the development and commercialisation of new products and services for businesses in the most cutting edge industries. Their current priority areas for grant … Read more
What is the Rural England Prosperity Fund? The Rural England Prosperity Fund is a complementary funding pot to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund that was launched by the last UK Government as part of their Levelling Up agenda. A total of £110m in funding has been made available across financial years 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 in … Read more