To be eligible for Expert Help your business must be:
- based in Argyll and Bute
- micro- or small-sized (fewer than 50 employees and less than €10m turnover or balance sheet total of less than €10m)
- actively trading (ie buying and selling goods or services with the intention of making a profit)
- providing employment for you or a member of staff equivalent to the current real Living Wage or above, or demonstrate clear potential to do so within 12 months (ie equivalent to a salary of nearly £22,000 at the current rate based on a 35 hour week The Calculation | Living Wage Foundation)
- Full-time (operating 35+ hours a week) or part-time (operating 16-34 hours per week)
- Applicants must be aged 18 years and over.
- A maximum of three applications for Expert Help per business or individual can be made. Where there is more than one owner of the business, for example in a partnership or limited company, details of all the other individuals involved in the business must be provided with the application.
- Applications from social enterprises may be considered where there is evidence of significant earned income from trading or service level agreements. Grant income or donations are not considered earned income for the purposes of this support.
- Franchise businesses must be ethical franchises and accredited by the British Franchise Association.
- Only UK residents and those ‘granted leave to remain’ in the UK are eligible to apply for the grant. Applicants will be required to provide the Council with evidence that they are UK residents or have ‘leave to remain’, for example, a passport or letter from the Home Office.
- If your business is part of a group, support can be considered on a discretionary basis if the parent company is a UK based small or medium sized enterprise; and the economic benefits of providing support relate to Argyll and Bute (job creation or retention, strengthening local supply chains, supporting key sectors)
Ineligible
- Applications from those with debts owing to the Council will not be approved and the Council shall carry out a check against business rates and/or Council tax as part of the application process.
- Part-time businesses operating fewer than 16 hours per week are not eligible to apply.
- The following are ineligible to apply: any business involved in the sex industry; politics; religion; nude or semi-nude modelling or photography; multi-level marketing/pyramid selling or any business that may bring Argyll and Bute Council into disrepute. Organisations with restricted membership are not eligible to apply.
- Projects eligible for full funding through other public bodies are excluded.
- Undischarged bankrupts and those with bankruptcy proceedings pending against them are ineligible for the grant and are not permitted to apply.
- Applications from those who have received more than £315,000 in public sector subsidies over the last 3 financial years cannot be approved.
Please read all the information below before contacting Business Gateway on 01546 604555 if you have any questions about this support.