Date posted: 17th Jun 2025
Durham Business Growth Programme
Funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, The Durham Business Growth Programme offers grants for both capital and revenue based projects.
Capital grants:
- Capital grants of between £10,000 and £200,000 are available at intervention rates of up to 40% of expenditure.
- Projects of £25,000 upwards can potentially be supported.
- Eligible costs include plant, machinery, equipment, premises and fit out works.
- In return, the fund is looking for businesses to deliver outputs including job creation and safeguarding, productivity improvements and decarbonisation benefits.
Revenue grants:
- Revenue grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 are available at intervention rates of up to 40% of expenditure.
- Projects of £2,500 upwards can potentially be supported.
- Grants are available towards the costs of engaging external experts to deliver consulting services that support business improvement projects.
- Eligible projects include forecasting and business planning, systems consultancy, marketing and social media consulting, HR advice, web and app development, new product development and decarbonisation.
- Small items of capital equipment connected to digitalisation or decarbonisation may also be supported subject to an initial consultancy process.
- Again the funds are designed to help businesses overcome barriers to growth and so applicants will be expected to deliver outputs including job creation and safeguarding, productivity improvements and decarbonisation benefits.
Projects must be complete and jobs in place by 31 March 2026. All the information you need on this fund is available at https://www.durhambusinessgrowth.co.uk/
Made Smarter
Manufacturing businesses with fewer than 250 staff can benefit from funded consultancy and grant support to assist with identifying and implementing digital technologies to drive efficiency in the manufacturing process.
- Grants of up to £20,000 towards technology implementation are available at intervention rates of up to 50%.
- Further grants of up to £3.5k towards access to expert technical advice are also available.
- The above is supported by expert consultancy, a bespoke digital roadmap and opportunities to attend workshops and networking events with other manufacturers.
Full details of the North East Made Smarter programme are available at https://www.madesmarter.uk/adoption/in-my-region/north-east/
Our team can support with the application process for the above grant funds. Contact us if you are considering an application.
