Bira and a number of other organisations, including trade associations, BIDs and unions attended a meeting with officials from Welsh Government on Wednesday 13th March to discuss the coming availability of a £20m Future Proofing Fund to help businesses to strengthen their profitability through investment in their business.
Available to retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 will be awarded to cover up to 75% of project costs or £10,000, whichever is the lesser amount and it is expected that businesses will fund the remaining 25% from other sources.
The fund will be available for eligible businesses in Wales, either headquartered or having an operating address in Wales, who employ people in Wales.
In a recent press release from gov.wales, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said:
“The ongoing cost-of-living and cost-of-doing-business crises continue to present difficulties to businesses across Wales.
These grants will help micro, small and medium sized businesses from the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors to make some significant changes in the way they run their operations so they can adapt for the future.”
The final details and criteria of the funding are being agreed at this moment and we will share complete details as soon as we see them.
There will be an eligibility checker opened on the Gov.wales website in mid-April 2024 and applications will open in May 2024.
It's important to note that the application window will remain open for just 3 weeks or until the fund has been exhausted. It will therefore be vital that businesses act quickly to work out projects and to collate the necessary evidence and data required, ready for the application window in May.
Our understanding is that projects will be assessed towards the end of Spring 24, and successful businesses will be announced around August 2024.
Any funded projects must be delivered and claimed for by the end of the financial year.
“This £20m fund is a great opportunity for businesses in Wales, but it’s important to note that it will only extend to 2,000, maybe 2,500 businesses, so it’s imperative that you keep a close eye on the timeframes involved and act quickly once the eligibility checker and the subsequent application window opens up.” said John Halliday, Bira’s Director of Marketing,
Further details will be communicated once we’ve been updated.
UPDATE: The eligibility checker is now open - go here to read more