The Government recently announced a national £10 million fund for tourism businesses and a national £20 million fund for small to medium sized businesses both to aid recovery from the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The aim of the funding is to help your business move forward by accessing specialist support or advice or to purchase equipment that will enable your business to recover. Please be aware that the process is competitive and demand will be extremely high. Also note that once a project has been approved the applicant must pay for the product or service before being able to claim the grant funding.

• Grants will be available for tourism businesses, in addition to businesses from the wider economy;

• We can fund grants of £1,000 to £3,000 as standard, up to £5,000 by exception;

• There must be an evidence of need and you must be able to demonstrate how your businesses has been affected. We really need to make sure that these grants go to the businesses who really need the funding;

• We can fund specialist support such as accountancy, marketing, HR and finance;

• We can also fund the cost of small capital items for digital solutions or specialist equipment;

• You must be based within Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership area;

• We cannot fund PPE or items to help with social distancing;

• We cannot fund ongoing running costs such as rent, lease costs, insurance etc;

• We cannot fund vehicles.

If you feel that you meet the criteria mentioned above please view the information on the Boost Business Lancashire website, click here for the Kickstart Lancashire Tourism Grant and here for Boost Your Recovery Grant. Initially you will be asked to complete an Expression of Interest form, and, if eligible you will then be invited to the next stage once they officially open in September.