You must register an interest this week to get a grant of up to £5,000 from the government.

• The scheme launches today, and registration of an interest must be in by this Friday.

• The grant can be for paying for accessing specialist consultancy or professional advice, the purchase of minor equipment or technology, adapting existing technology or diversification.

• Following the completion of the form, you will receive an email in late September which will contain the terms and conditions, an application form and timetable.

• The allocation of these grants will be on a first come basis and due to anticipated high demand, not all applications will be successful.

• The government has set aside £20m for SME’s with a minimum of £50,000 prior to COVID. This is being organised through your Local Enterprise Partnership. However, it looks like local LEPS are only offering up to £3k(excl. VAT) rather than the headline £5k

• LEP contact details are as follows:

Thames Valley https://www.berkshirebusinesshub.co.uk/

Bucks https://bbf.uk.com/

Other areas see https://www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts/

Should you wish to take advantage of this support, we can help with your financial models or at S4B have a commercial review program called Carpe Diem where we will review your business, identify weaknesses and opportunities and suggest a strategic plan going forward with detailed suggested plans. That will cover many areas including:

• Executive Summary

• Strategy

• Management

• Account Management

• New Sales

• Margin Management

• Cash Flow and Working Capital Management

• Financial Reporting

• Financial Processes and Controls

• Operations

• Marketing

• HR

• IT

• Legal

• Taxation

• Other Commercial