Have you claimed your Growth Voucher of up to £2,000 yet?

Business Engine Room is an approved provider for the Growth Voucher SchemeGrowthVoucher_small

We are delighted to have been accepted as an approved provider of strategic advice under the Growth Voucher scheme.  The government is providing match-funding of up to £2,000 to qualifying small businesses to receive business advice.  20,000 businesses across England will be selected for this scheme, so apply today!

 

If you are a small business (less than 50 full-time equivalent staff) looking to grow, follow these simple steps:

 

Step 1. Apply to the programme online through GOV.UK.

Step 2. You will be asked to either complete an online questionnaire or to meet an advisor face-to-face in order to assess your strategic needs.

Step 3. After completing the assessment, you will be given a suggestion about which area of strategic advice would be the most appropriate. You will be told, at this stage, whether or not you’ve been allocated a voucher.

Step 4. Applicants will then be advised to find a Growth Voucher adviser on the Enterprise Nation Marketplace.

Step 5. Choose an appropriate advisor – Business Engine Room is on the list of advisers in the Finance and Cashflow area.  Vouchers will cover up to half of the cost of paying for strategic advice up to a maximum of £2,000 (non-inclusive of VAT).

Step 6. After paying for services, submit your claim for.  Claims will be processed on receipt and should be paid within 30 days.

 

More about the Growth Voucher Scheme

The Growth Vouchers programme is also being run as a randomised control trial (RCT) by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insights Team. RCTs are widely regarded as a gold standard for empirical research. This is the first time an RCT has been run on this scale and aims to find out what sort of business advice is most effective for government to support.

The marketplace is designed to make it much easier for businesses to find providers of strategic advice on key topics like:

  • Improving leadership and management;
  • Making the most of digital technology;
  • Managing cashflow, late payments and negotiating finance;
  • Marketing, attracting and keeping customers;
  • Developing skills and taking on staff.

Businesses that have been running for a year, with fewer than 50 employees, and have not paid for strategic external advice in the past three years will be able to apply at https://www.gov.uk/apply-growth-vouchers They will go through a process which will help them identify what sort of advice they might benefit from. Small business network Enterprise Nation has developed a marketplace for business advice where participants will then be able to find a qualified adviser at www.enterprisenation.com/marketplace

The new marketplace is funded by private sector firms:  technology specialist Toshiba, co-working expert Regus, cloud-based collaboration and data sharing software provider Citrix, telecoms brand Vodafone, cloud-based accounts, payroll software provider Sage One, email marketing campaign brand Constant Contact and EDF Energy which are showing their support for small businesses by backing the initiative.

It is also supported by professional bodies including the CIMA, ACCA, ICAEW, BCS, CIPD, CMI and the CIM.

 

The scheme will be running until March 2015, so apply today!