Chartered accountants Francis Clark LLP have welcomed a Government decision which ensures the future of the main private sector source of grant funding in the South West.

The decision, from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), ended a week of uncertainty after BIS indicated that it would close the Grant for Business Investment (GBI) scheme to new applications with immediate effect from February 1.

It subsequently emerged that companies will now continue to be allowed to the GBI scheme, which is administered locally by the South West RDA and funded through the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) in Cornwall, Plymouth and other parts of the South West.

Commenting on the GBI decision, Dave Armstrong, Corporate Finance Director at Francis Clark, said: “We were in a somewhat similar situation last summer when BIS announced a moratorium on the issue of grant offers by all RDAs.  This was over-ruled within a few days.  The announcement this time was the Department for BIS basically closing the scheme across the whole of England, but the South West RDA has been proactive in applying for its own State Aid notification which has enabled it to continue in the short term. This is very good news for the region and for local businesses trying to grow and create quality jobs.”

“We had been in close dialogue with the RDA since the threat of closure to the scheme was first announced, and also in discussions with a number of other organisations to see if they could help overturn the decision.  We were reassured that discussions were under way to ensure that GBI remained open to applications in the South West.”

“We are currently working on a number of applications with the employment implications, both in terms of creation and safeguarding jobs, running into several hundreds of jobs and we are delighted that the scheme is open again.”

“There is a question mark over how long this will be the case, given the well publicised closure of the RDAs by March 2012 - although it is hoped that the likes of the LEPs or similar organisations will pick up responsibility.”  

Richard Hoskin, the South West RDA’s Business Investment Manager, said: “Over the past week we have worked hard and very closely with the Department for BIS and the European Commission. The decision to reopen GBI is a real boost to the region and will be supported by many small and medium sized businesses throughout the South West.”

For further information:

David Armstrong, Corporate Finance Director at Francis Clark. Telephone: 07810 056164

For your reference, we have a specialist grant advisory page which you may find of interest.

 

Francis Clark has offices in Exeter, Plymouth, Salisbury, Taunton, Tavistock, Torquay and Truro. Francis Clark is the winner of the ‘Auditor of the Year - Mid Tier’ in the National Financial Directors’ Excellence Awards 2011, and LexisNexis Best General Tax Practice Award 2009. More information is available by logging on at our Online Information Centre