Grants and Funding

Grants and funding are available from a number of sources to enable your business to:

• Open new products and services
• Explore new markets
• Innovate
• Perform research and development
• Improve productivity and efficiency

These activities help to drive business performance in growth, revenue, profitability, and productivity. To learn more about the general benefits of grants for your business, read what the British Business Bank have said.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council Grants and Funding

Your business could benefit from the Business Innovation Support Scheme. This is for independent local businesses who want to innovate, reduce their carbon footprint, and stimulate the local economy. The fund is also open to entities planning delivery of projects that provide a significant contribution to the economic recovery of the district such as job creation, increased productivity, improved visitor experience and increased use of town and village centres. Grants range from £500 to £5,000 and need to be matched with an equal sum of money.

You may also be interested in the Innovate to Elevate program, which is a fully funded business accelerator program set up between Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils and the University of Essex. The scheme will fund projects between participating businesses and the University of Essex. Participants will receive hands-on intervention from an Innovation Manager and access to a team of highly qualified academics and research staff who can offer expertise in the following areas, among many others.

If you are thinking of starting a business, are in the process of starting a business or have recently started their business venture and based in Babergh or Mid Suffolk you are eligible for the Start Up Support program. The programme, which is free to enrol on and set to be open until the end of March 2025, will include a range of workshops, 1 to 1 sessions, seminars and much more all designed to help new businesses flourish.  

The Rural England Prosperity Fund is now available. Follow the link to find out more. On 6 April 2023, approval was received from the Government department DEFRA on our addendum which includes several different projects including a Rural Business Grant Fund. The project aims to increase workspace in the districts, additional EV charge points, Food & Drink events linked to the new Culture, Heritage and Visitor Economy Strategy, and active travel enhancements.

Funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Suffolk Business Grant Scheme is delivered by Babergh District Council, East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Mid Suffolk District Council and West Suffolk Council.

You can visit the links on the right to learn more about these Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council sources of funding.

Other sources of grants and funding

New Anglia Growth Hub

New Anglia Growth Hub can help your business access a range of business support services from hundreds of sources. The hub’s service is FREE and IMPARTIAL and can help you access grants, finance, international trade support and other specialist advice – all from a single point of contact.

One of the hub’s latest forms of support is The High Growth Network Programme. This is a fully funded tailored Programme comprised of a series of organised gatherings and educational sessions to help people learn critical business skills and create strong networks with like-minded peers. Upon completion, businesses will have produced their own actionable business plan to support their high growth over the coming 12 months.

New Anglia LEP Schemes

New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership works with businesses, local authority partners and education institutions to drive growth and enterprise in Norfolk and Suffolk. Current programmes include:

• Growth Through Innovation Fund – up to £25k at 45% intervention rate
• Business Transition to Net Zero  – £25k up to £100k at 20% intervention

More details and full guidance notes are on New Anglia’s Funding webpage.

Scale Up New Anglia, is a programme specifically designed for businesses that are looking for guidance in developing a pathway route map and action plan to help them scale up. Read up further on both these programmes via the downloads in the box on the right of this page.

Suffolk County Council Grant Mentoring

Suffolk County Council supports the New Anglia LEP’s business programmes outlined in the section above and also offers a grant mentoring scheme.

Innovation funding can help you take your business to the next level, whether you’re looking to develop a new product or expand into a new market. But applying for the funding can be complicated and time-consuming, especially if you have a smaller business. Suffolk and Norfolk County Councils have combined to create a grant mentoring scheme that will help guide you through the application process and increase your chances of getting funding.

They will thoroughly explore your business aims and ambitions so they can match you with mentors or bid writing coaches. They will help you to develop your ideas and reach the stage where you’re ready to apply for innovation funding.

The project helps a variety of business types, from sole traders to micro, small and medium-sized businesses. If you have an idea that could be worthy of innovation funding, we can help you! Read more and apply here.

Government Grant Finder

The ‘Find a Grant’ service is available from this site and allows searching of government grants. You can use the service to access government grant funding, search and filter to find a grant that meets your needs, finding out if you are eligible to apply, and how to apply.

GrantFinder

GrantFinder is the leading funding database in the UK covering local, national, and international sources of funding. As an organisation we are able to access this useful database on your behalf, so email us to find out more. You can also read the latest GrantFinder news here.

Net Zero Grants

Visit the Heart of Suffolk Climate Change page to find out more details of support and grants that is available.

The Carbon Charter website has a grants and funding page that details available net zero grants.

The Carbon Trust offers knowledge and finance to help businesses reduce energy costs and increase profits, by implementing low carbon solutions. Please visit their client services webpage for more information.

The Green Suffolk website also carries a listing of available funding schemes to help businesses cut energy use.

Let’s Do Business Finance – business growth loans

Let’s Do Business Finance are offering loans to companies that can’t get funding from banks, or other mainstream providers. They are supported by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

Loans range from £10,000 to £100,000.

Please visit Let’s Do Business Finance’s website for further information.

Barclays Eagle Labs

Barclays Eagle Labs is a network made up of member businesses, partners, investors, corporates, mentors, banking expertise and so much more. In addition to their many other services, they offer a range of programmes. These currently include the Black Venture Growth Programme, Product Builder Programme, Funding Readiness Programme and many more.

Innovate UK Funding Finder

Innovate UK has a wide offer of funding opportunities that can be accessed on their funding finder page.