How to apply for a ‘Restart and Recovery’ grant

We wrote on 11^th September about the Government’s imminent launch of their Restart and Recovery Grant scheme which is accessed via your Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) growth hubs. This is part of the government’s drive to boost the recovery of the economy and provide SMEs help to adapt their businesses following the coronavirus pandemic.

The funding available is intended to pay 100% of the costs up to £3k (£5k in certain circumstances) for specialist advice to help with your business.

As mentioned in our previous blog, the type of specialist advice they may fund could be:

• Review of the business strategy
• Strategic review of business models
• HR, financial and legal advice
• Innovation strategy to adapt and diversify products/services
• Rebuilding a viable business model

With that in mind, we’ve created a couple of examples below of what support a client of ours could take advantage of and how best to describe it in the application. In this instance, we’ve referenced advice specific to cashflow to help future proof your business. The government is looking to fund such a service and we believe that there’s a growing number of businesses in the region who will need this kind of support.

Example 1 – Cash flow (copy/paste to include in your application)

We know there is ‘untapped’ cash within our business which by making improvements in certain areas will realise this for immediate and future investment in our people and technology. Our accounting/tax advisers have developed a diagnostic review to improve our cash flow throughout the organisation. It’s primary purpose is to help ‘future proof’ the business and put us in the best possible position to be able to survive any continued economic headwinds by identifying the key areas in which we can improve the rate of cash flowing through our business. This will not only help us to survive but allow us to generate cash within the business that allows us to invest in new products/service lines (through people and technology).  

The process consists of an initial review of all areas of the business which affect cash (pretty much everything!) and provides us with a report that identifies the key priorities in terms of actions that should be taken. This is then supplemented by 3 follow up meetings to hold us to account and ensure the actions are being taken to realise the benefits immediately as well as on an ongoing basis.

The investment ‘pay back’ should allow us to implement improvements across our business that will have an exponential impact on the business and our growth aspirations. This will have a direct and beneficial impact on the number of people we can employ and our supply chain.

Example 2 – Business support (copy/paste to include in your application)

As a business we have seen the impact of Covid-19. Having proved we can survive the last 6 months, we are now in a position where we want to take advantage of looking at every angle of our business to ensure we’re not only surviving but thriving over the next 6-12 months. Our accounting/tax advisers are offering us the opportunity to take advantage of their vast commercial experience that can challenge the current strategy, drill down into the risks and opportunities that exist within our business and ensure we’re putting ourselves in the best possible position for future success. Taking our business to the next level will not only help our long term prospects it will give immediate benefits in the current environment from a clear direction, improved employee engagement and increased opportunity for increasing the number of staff we employ.

This process will provide us with an assessment of the current state of play within our business and the 2 follow up meetings are designed to pull together the actions required and hold us accountable for making them happen.

The investment ‘pay back’ should allow us to implement improvements across our business that will have an exponential impact on the business and our growth aspirations. This will have a direct and beneficial impact on the number of people we can employ and our supply chain.

So with that in mind, there’s really no reason for you not to be making an application and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any further help with your application or an idea of costs.