The Government are currently trialling a Voucher scheme to subsidise strategic advice provided to help small business growth.
This is a trial scheme, so everyone who applies for a voucher will not be successful. Nevertheless this could be a good way for smaller businesses to access consultancy advice that they may not otherwise have been able to afford.
Vouchers up to a value of £2,000 may be available to pay for up to 50% of the cost of strategic / consultancy advice taken (so if you spend £4,000 on a consultant and successfully apply for vouchers you could get £2,000 of this free).
There are other conditions that have to be satisfied for a business to qualify for these vouchers and these include :-
- Trading for at least one year
- 49 employees or less
- Not taken strategic business advice in the last three years
Additionally the vouchers, and therefore advice that is taken, have to be in one of the following categories :-
- Finance and cash flow – raising finance and managing cash flow
- Expanding your workforce – recruiting and developing your staff
- Leadership and management – improving leadership and management skills
- Marketing and customer service – marketing, attracting and keeping customers
- IT and web – making the most of digital technology
Whilst seeking consultancy advice in one of these categories may be relevant for some of the larger businesses that apply (those with 20 or more employees) for smaller businesses (less than 10 employees) it is a shame that the scheme doesn't allow them to take general consultancy advice to help them grow and develop their business. Most smaller businesses faces challenges across all of the specific categories and could do with assistance across all of them rather than being forced just to look at one area. Nevertheless the scheme is to be applauded as a starting point for encouraging businesses to look externally for advice – and it is only a trial scheme and is bound to be developed and improved if the Government deem it to be worthwhile.
The scheme is being administered by Enterprise Nation and more information can be found here –
https://marketplace.enterprisenation.com/about
