Grants & funds available for businesses

Coronavirus (COVID-19) will affect most businesses in some way. If you're a local business looking for help, and your questions aren't answered below, Business Gateway Falkirk will be able to signpost you to advice and support.

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Business Resilience Fund

We aim to support business change and development following the COVID-19 pandemic. The recent period of lockdown has forced many businesses to rethink their model of delivery or to focus on certain elements of their business which could help to sustain or grow the business over time.

This fund provides financial assistance to help businesses meet their new business objectives. It can support plant, equipment and machinery expenditure (including IT), property expansion/improvements, exhibiting at a national trade show or the costs of developing innovative products or processes.

Grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 are available to support 50% of eligible expenditure (minimum project spend is £2,000).

Please note this grant is for new spend that your business has to incur and can't be used for items already purchased.

Eligibility criteria

The business must have a dedicated business bank account (you will be required to provide the account details as part of the application process and this is the account your grant will be paid into if successful).

• The business has not breached wider coronavirus (COVID-19) regulations/requirements
• The business is not connected to a tax haven, as set out in the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020
• Business must be classified as an Small Medium Enterprise (SME) – Less than 250 employees and turnover less than £45 million
• Business must not be in any debt to the council eg Business rate arrears
• The business must be operated on a full time basis
• The business must operate from commercial premises within the Falkirk Council area, for which there is a signed lease/rental /licence agreement in place
• At the time of submitting the application, the business cannot be in bankruptcy, liquidation or similar
• The business has not previously been awarded from the Business Adaptation Fund or the Business Resilience Fund. Businesses can only be awarded one grant from each of the funds.
• The business is not a community groups, not for profit organisations, voluntary or charitable organisations (except social enterprises).

*This grant is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

For any queries in relation to this fund, please email:

Business Resilience Grant Frequently Asked Questions

Can funding be claimed which have already been incurred by businesses?

No, this must be new spend. Purchases must not be made, or committed to, prior to the grant being approved.

Can training costs be included as expenditure?

Training costs can be considered where they are part of the overall project costs and are directly relating to an investment.

For example a business invests in new piece of machinery and staff require to be trained on this and there is an external cost.

Please note, staff time is not an eligible cost.

Can second-hand equipment be purchased?

Equipment must be purchased from registered businesses. Business receipts or invoices would need to be provided.

Are general business running costs eligible?

No, any costs which are routinely incurred by your business are ineligible. Examples of this would be the purchase of stock, general consumables, vehicles and cleaning materials.

Can new machinery or equipment be leased and be funded via this grant?

No, machinery or equipment must be purchased by the businesses. Businesses will be required to evidence the payment of items via bank statements etc. before the grant will be paid. Purchases made by hire purchase, lease or other finance agreement would not qualify.

Can I apply for some of the costs of a larger project?

Yes, provided the items being claimed meet the criteria of the funds and the business can demonstrate that these items have been purchased and paid for via the business bank account.

What type of businesses cannot apply?

Community groups, not for profit organisations, voluntary or charitable organisations (except social enterprises) are ineligible for the grant.

Can I pay for eligible items by cash?

No, all payments for approved expenditure must be made through the business bank account and supported by invoices/receipts from suppliers. Items or services paid for by cash do not meet audit trail requirements and are not eligible for grant.

What IT hardware spend is eligible to be claimed?

IT costs relating to the business having to adapt or adopt new technology to carry on trading or diversify. Replacement or upgrading existing IT equipment, which currently meets the needs of the business, would not be eligible.

What IT software spend is eligible to be claimed?

Bespoke software which is tailored to the business and allows the business to carry on trading/grow/diversify is eligible. Off the shelf software such as Microsoft, Sage, Quickbooks etc that are standard business operating software would not be eligible.

Can I claim for costs such as Broadband or Web Hosting?

No, any ongoing charges which would be considered business as normal are not eligible to be claimed. Any funding received should relate directly to a specific project rather than on-going regular business.

Can I claim for computer software user licensing or technical support?

Any initial, one off, licensing or technical support costs relating to the implementation of new software or hardware, as part of a larger project, would be eligible to be claimed. However any ongoing licensing or technical support costs (for example, an annual technical support payment or licence fees) would not be eligible.

Are retailers able to apply for the Resilience Grant?

Applications from the retail sector cannot be considered unless the business can demonstrate that they are servicing more than a local market. This means they are attracting customers from out with the Falkirk area, and are providing something that is unique and not available from any other local retailers. For example – a specialist skate boarding shop.

Where a retailers sales only serve the local market, providing grant support can cause displacement ie if one local business receives support but this leads to another local business in the area losing customers then this has no added value to the Falkirk economy.

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Digital Development Fund

Aim

The aim of the Digital Development Fund is to provide businesses located within Falkirk Council area with financial support to assist them with the development and implementation of new digital systems which aim to improve business performance and enable business growth. Grants of between £1000 and £10,000 are available to support 50% of eligible expenditure. This is a discretionary funding programme and will provide up to 50% of the business's digital expenditure. Minimum eligible project is £2000 therefore minimum Grant is £1000.

What is available :

• Funds 50% of costs up to £10,000 towards introducing new digital capabilities to a business to achieve the following digital business improvement projects:
  • Reducing (non-staff) operational costs
  • Improving market share
  • Enabling employment to be safeguarded or increased
  • Increasing revenues
  • Increasing profit margin
  • Improving cyber security
  • Moving business online
• Applications must clearly demonstrate how a business’s digital project will improve its business performance and safeguard or increase employment.

Am I Eligible?

Below you will find a short summary of eligibility criteria:

• Applicant organisations must operating, located and trading from within Falkirk Council area
• Must be trading a minimum of 6 months. (Applicant business must have been receiving sales income for at least 6 months).
• Applicants must be a UK resident with the right to work in the UK.
• Businesses must meet the European* definition of an SME in relation to employees, balance sheet and turnover.
• All Industry sectors are eligible for consideration.

What Can I Use the Fund For?

• Reducing (non-staff) operational costs
• Improving market share
• Enabling employment to be safeguarded or increased
• Increasing revenues
• Increasing profit margin
• Improving cyber security
• Moving business online

Eligible expenditure is to introduce new digital capabilities to your business:

• Enhancing digital skills of workforce ( external training costs)
• Buying software related to the digital project
• Buying IT, or digital communications, hardware related to digital project
• Building an online booking/ticketing system
• Building an Ecommerce website
• Developing an app ( through an external contractor)
• Digital Consultancy costs
• Building or maintaining websites .

Ineligible expenditure (for the grant element of the project) is classed as:

• Initiatives to reduce employment in the business
• Renewals of existing product or software licences, or minor updates to existing products (for example, a software version update)
• Statutory costs, property development and the purchase of stock
• Software or hardware rental
• Ongoing annual charges for platforms, hosting or online content management
• Hardware that is a replacement to existing hardware i.e. through wear and tear
• Consumable items (i.e. toner/ink printer cartridges)
• Products purchased through a third party that are not licensed to the applicant for its own use

Conditions

• Businesses must clearly demonstrate how their digital investment project will improve their business performance and will safeguard or increase employment.
• Businesses must provide a business plan or strategy outlining their digital investment project, and demonstrating the commercial viability of their business
• If a full business plan is not available, a mini business plan covering the following will be sufficient:
  • Executive summary: a brief overview of company proposals including digital development project and its anticipated impact
  • Management and organisation: the management team and the company structure
  • History, business, and products: a brief description and history of the business, a description of the principal products or services, and any proposed future developments.
  • Market and competition: a description of markets to be targeted, size of market, major customers, major competitors
  • 2 years financial projections – cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet

Business must provide up to date audited financial accounts or most recent management accounts

Q: What is the application process?

The process is in 2 stages:

1. Application Form – Complete the online application form.

2. Claim Process – After you have received your grant award, you will have 3 months to complete your digital project and submit evidence of your grant spend. Once your eligible evidence is verified your grant payment will be disbursed.

Q: What type of expenditure is likely to be accepted?

• Eligible expenditure is to introduce new digital capabilities to your business:
• Enhancing digital skills of workforce
• Buying software
• Buying IT, or digital communications, hardware
• Building an online booking/ticketing system
• Building an Ecommerce website
• Developing an app ( external consultancy costs)
• Digital Consultancy costs
• Building or maintaining websites that are brochures or provide information

Ineligible expenditure (for the grant element of the project) is classed as:

• Digital marketing.
• Marketing: attending trade fairs, PR & marketing activity, and branding.
• Initiatives to reduce employment in the business.
• Software or hardware rental costs
• Existing and/or ongoing annual charges for platforms, hosting, or online content management.
• Gaining quality accreditation.
• Building improvements, groundworks, fixtures, and fittings.

Q: What evidence do I need to apply for the fund?

You will need a record of the following:

• Trading name of the business
• Number of employees/ Turnover/ Export sales (where applicable)
• Proposed expenditure
• Business bank details
• Latest set of accounts and Management accounts
• 2 quotes for each item being purchased
• Business plan including 2 years financial projections
• If a full business plan is not available, a mini business plan covering the following will be sufficient:
  • Executive summary: a brief overview of company proposals including growth plans, and anticipated impacts of the project
  • Management and organisation: the management team, the company structure, management succession
  • History, business, and products: a brief description and history of the business, a description of the principal products or services, and any proposed future developments.
  • Market and competition: a description of markets to be targeted, size of market, major customers, major competitors
  • 2 years financial projections – cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet

Further Eligibly criteria

The business must have a dedicated business bank account (you will be required to provide the account details as part of the application process and this is the account your grant will be paid into if successful).

• The business has not breached wider coronavirus (COVID-19) regulations/requirements
• The business is not connected to a tax haven, as set out in the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020
• Business must be classified as an Small Medium Enterprise (SME) – Less than 250 employees and turnover less than £45 million
• Business must not be in any debt to the council eg Business rate arrears
• The business must be operated on a full time basis
• At the time of submitting the application, the business cannot be in bankruptcy, liquidation or similar
• The business is not a community groups, not for profit organisations, voluntary or charitable organisations (except social enterprises).

We anticipate high levels of interest in the fund and applications are processed in chronological order. Please be patient - we will try and process applications as quickly as we can. This could take up to 15 working days.

If you want to ask a question regarding your application you can email us at the email address below. Please quote your FC reference number in all communications.

*This grant is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Frequently asked questions:

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Business Restart Loan

The Business Restart Loan (previously the Falkirk Business Loan Fund) offers SME's in the Falkirk Council area with short term cash flow issues, interest free loans between £1,000 to £5,000.

Eligible businesses must be able to demonstrate:

• That they have been adversely affected by COVID-19
• That they have the ability to grow and create employment
• That they have been trading for a minimum of 6 months

The interest rate is fixed at 0% and loans will be repayable by monthly direct debit instalments from an established business bank account for a period of up to 3 years. A repayment holiday may be granted at the absolute discretion of DSL. There is no administration fee.

To apply, contact DSL:

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Business Loans Scotland

Business Loans Scotland is a consortium of Scotland's local authorities, providing loan finance up to £100,000 to new and growing, small and medium sized businesses(SMEs) across Scotland.

The loan fund offers gap funding to SMEs within the geographic area of operation (including Falkirk) where public sector funding (including Business Loans Scotland's contribution), does not exceed 50% of the total funding package. Visit www.bls.scot for further information and how to apply.

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Recovery Loan Scheme

The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) is designed to support access to finance for UK businesses as they look to invest and grow.

Businesses can use the finance for any legitimate business purpose – including managing cashflow, investment and growth. However, businesses must be able to afford to take out additional debt finance for these purposes.

The British Business Bank will administer the scheme on behalf of the of the Secretary of State for BEIS.

You can apply to the scheme from the British Business Bank website.

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Employer Recruitment Incentive Fund

Support to recruit a young person may be available from the Employment and Training Unit (ETU), which can help with wages costs for the first 12 months of employment. Employer Recruitment Incentive has more information.

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Environmental Improvement Fund

Grants of up to £5,000 may be available for purchasing tools for regular clean-ups, hire of waste equipment, waste disposal costs and more. Environmental Improvement Fund has more information and details on how to apply.

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Energy Efficiency Fund

The Energy Efficiency Fund is a fund for local small and medium enterprises to embrace net zero ambitions and to support Scotland's national net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2045.  

This discretionary fund provides financial assistance to help businesses meet their net zero targets. The fund can provide up to 50% grant support (up to £10,000 per grant) to support local businesses make energy changes to business premises and operations. For example, a move to low carbon heating systems, solar powered energy, or other measures to reduce emissions.

Eligibility criteria

The business must have a dedicated business bank account (you will need to provide the account details as part of the application process, and this is the account your grant will be paid into if successful).

• The business is not connected to a tax haven, as set out in the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020
• Business must be classified as a Small Medium Enterprise (SME) – less than 250 employees and turnover less than £45 million
• Business must not be in any debt to the council eg Non Domestic business rates arrears
• The business must be operated on a full-time basis and have a business bank account
• The business must operate from commercial premises within the Falkirk Council area, for which there is a legally constituted signed lease/rental /licence agreement in place
• At the time of submitting the application, the business cannot be in bankruptcy, liquidation or similar
• The business is not a:
• community group
• not for profit organisation
• voluntary or charitable organisation (except social enterprises)
• Applications to this fund are limited to one application per business. Subsequent applications will not be considered at this time.

What can this fund be used for?

The Energy Efficiency Fund can be used to support local businesses make changes to business premises and business operations to support a reduction of their Carbon Footprint from energy consumption. This might include:

• Changing to a low carbon heating system
• Installation of low and zero carbon generating technologies, such as solar PV, biomass, micro-wind etc
• Building fabric upgrades such as insulation, energy efficient lighting, draught-proofing, double or triple glazing

What this fund cannot be used for

• Upgrades of existing equipment
• Upgrades of existing energy systems eg replacement gas boiler
• Routine property maintenance
• Carbon offsetting activities
• Purchase of consumables
• Purchases which exacerbate or do not reduce carbon footprint
• Feasibility studies / consultant fees
• Staffing costs
• Projects where a reduced Carbon Footprint cannot be demonstrated

How much can I apply for?

Maximum intervention rate is up to 50% - up to a maximum value of £10,000.

The minimum grant is £1,000 (requires eligible expenditure of £2,000).

How do I apply?

A completed online application should be submitted (explaining why external financial assistance from Falkirk Council is necessary to enable the project to proceed) together with an up-to-date business plan, most recent annual accounts (if applicable) or up to date management accounts, quotes and baseline emissions.

If a full business plan is not available, a mini business plan covering the following will be sufficient:

• Executive summary: a brief overview of company proposals
• Management and organisation: the management team, the company structure, management succession
• History, business, and products: a brief description and history of the business, a description of the principal products or services, and any proposed future developments
• Market and competition: a description of markets to be targeted, size of market, major customers, major competitors
• 2 years financial projections – cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet

Upon receipt of a complete application a Council officer will review the application against assessment criteria and will be in touch to discuss your application. A decision will be made shortly after this meeting and, if successful, a formal offer of grant will be made.

Assessment criteria

All applications will be assessed based on the criteria below.

Applicants must:

• Provide accurate, baseline carbon footprint calculations, information on how to do this is provided below.
• Demonstrate how the proposed investment will reduce carbon footprint and quantify this.
• Provide full details of any proposals, such as new equipment or new processes (eg specification of new lighting or low or zero carbon technology).
• Demonstrate how this investment contributes to the organisations wider Net Zero goals/strategy.
• Demonstrate wider environmental/community benefits of the proposal.

Carbon footprint calculations methodology

To calculate the potential carbon savings from your project you need to calculate your baseline emissions. You will then need to establish the potential emissions once the project has been implemented these are called project scenario emissions. You can do this by assuming a certain percentage reduction from baseline emissions.

The final step is calculating the potential savings the project has made which you do through taking the difference between baseline and project scenario emissions.

Emissions can be worked out using emissions factors from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Please use the condensed set which is the first option.

You will find the emissions factors for heating under the fuels tab, for gas please use 'natural gas' factor and for oil please use the 'burning oil' factor. You will notice there are several emissions factors listed for each fuel source, use the one that states 'kg CO2e'.

In terms of the electricity emissions factor you will find this under the UK electricity tab.

Please refer to worked example below, this is based on a project that is installing roof insulation.

Baseline emissions

This project will result in a reduction in heating emissions. The baseline can be established through looking at the previous years (full year) heating consumption which you will get from an energy bill, or on your account online.

If we go on gas and assume a previous year gas consumption of 30,000 kWh this would be:

Project scenario emissions

This is where an assumption needs to be made on what the potential savings for the project could be. According to the Energy Saving Trust a building can lose as much as 25% of its heat through the roof.

To work out the project scenario emissions we are assuming we can save 25% on heating therefore in this example it would be 25% of 30,000 and could potentially reduce annual gas consumption by 7,500 kWh. So new energy consumption would be 22,500 kWh.

Project scenario = new kWh consumption x heating emissions factor/1000.

So in this case:

Project savings

This is simply the baseline emission project scenario emissions so in this case 5.49-4.58 = 0.91 tonnes CO₂e. Energy Savings Trust estimates that insulation can last as much as 40 years so over 40 years this would work out as 36.4 tonnes CO₂e saved.

Note that if you are installing a heat pump you will need to factor in an increase in electricity consumption into your calculations. For example, if you use gas or LPG as current heating source the correct assumption is there will be no emissions associated with these heating sources once project is installed. The emissions associated from this project will come from the increase in electricity use from heat pump. Please see Energy Saving Trust for more information on heat pumps.

Claims process

Successful applicants will be required to submit evidence of all payments in relation to the project before any grant payments will be made. Payments made in cash cannot be included in any claim. All grant payments will be made retrospectively, at the successful conclusion of the project.

Where projects are not fully completed, claims will not be processed, and no grant payments will be made.

Special conditions of the fund

The project must NOT commence before approval is given as the grant cannot be awarded retrospectively. All payments for approved expenditure must be made through the business bank account and supported by invoices from suppliers.  The grant is paid after the payments have been made. Please note that items or services paid for by cash do not meet audit trail requirements and are not eligible for grant.

Businesses may not apply for further funding through the programme.

Monitoring and evaluation

Successful applicants will be required to submit updated carbon calculations to measure the impact that the project has had reducing your business carbon emissions. This can be done using the same methodology as outlined above. This will be done 12 months after project completion and a member of the Energy and Climate Change Team will get in touch as a reminder to send this information in.

For any queries in relation to this fund, please email: climatechange@falkirk.gov.uk

Useful resources

• Zero Waste Scotland – Energy Assessments
• Zero Waste Scotland – Guides
• Zero Waste Scotland – Energy Audit
• Energy Saving Trust
• Business Climate Hub
• Business Energy Scotland · Make Your Business Greener

Before you begin your application

You will need a record of the following:

• Trading name of the business
• Number of employees/ turnover/ export sales (where applicable)
• Proposed expenditure
• Business bank details
• Rateable value of premises (this can be found on www.saa.gov.uk)
• Copy of your lease if you are paying towards Non Domestic Rates for the premises.
• Latest set of accounts and management accounts, and a business plan (or mini business plan)
• 2 quotes for each item being purchased
• Calculation of baseline carbon footprint
• Projected emissions reduction from this investment

*This grant is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Frequently asked questions

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Expert Help - Support to help your business succeed

The Falkirk Council Expert Help scheme allows businesses to access support from a specialist to help them grow and develop their business for free.

What can this support be used for?

This support can be used for the following purposes

• Marketing
• IT
• Finance
• Procurement
• Leadership & Organisational Development
• Digital Media Solutions
• Environmental Support
• Internationalisation
• Innovation

What is available?

• Up to 3 days fully funded support
• Advice from experienced, qualified, professional experts
• Wide range of sectors and industries covered

Who can apply

Any SME (< 250 employees) involved in manufacturing or business to business services with ambition to grow turnover over the next 3 years.

The retail sector or B2C may be considered where the market is wider than local area eg implementation of e-commerce platforms.

How to apply

Contact:

*Expert Help is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

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Other support available

FindBusinessSupport.gov.scot directs your business to Scotland’s public sector support. It gives customers an overview of all funding and services offered by public sector organisations across Scotland. This makes it quicker and easier for businesses to find the information, advice and support they need, when they need it.

Information is available for businesses of all sizes – from start-ups to established companies, from sole traders to large enterprises, from commercial businesses to social enterprises.

For more information about any of these support schemes, please contact us: