"The Business Growth Warwickshire Programme is making a real difference to businesses around our county and is a great example of local authorities and our partners working together to deliver bespoke support which is relevant to the challenges of today."

Over 1,000 businesses have engaged with a Government and Warwickshire County Council-funded business support programme in its first six months of existence.

Six delivery strands of UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) support were launched under the £4.6 million Business Growth Warwickshire umbrella late last year. The Business Growth Warwickshire programme, developed and commissioned jointly by Warwickshire County Council, North Warwickshire Borough Council, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, Rugby Borough Council, Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Warwick District Council, offers the strands of support for businesses or residents looking to start a business in Warwickshire. The support has also now been widened thanks to a further Government grant secured by the County Council.

With the programme currently open until March 31st 2025, there is still plenty of time for more businesses to benefit from the support, joining those which have already engaged with the strands. The various elements of the programme have already provided over 180 businesses with more than 12 hours of support while safeguarding 203 jobs and already leading to increased productivity in 137 of the 180 businesses.

The strands of the programme are:

Aimed at businesses in their first 24 months of trading and individuals who have ambitions to start a business. This is a programme of one-to-one business coaching and workshops to provide the fundamental skills to start, and grow, a business.

An example of a business to have benefited from the Start-up programme is MJ Classic Engineering, Nuneaton:  

Aimed at businesses over 24 months old. It helps improve their resilience and growth potential via a tailored package of support with access to appropriate advice, and services to support growth plans.

Businesses across a whole range of sectors have been supported including retail, professional services and information & communication.

Engaging with businesses with ambitions for high growth and looking to innovate. It targets higher productivity that will contribute towards countywide growth targets and create new highly skilled jobs. The programme offers access to specialist mentors, bespoke support and specialist workshops.

Businesses to have benefited from Business Ready include Raiven Limited, based at Warwick Innovation Centre, and Solar Vision Lighting Technologies in Ryton:

Helping to create a green, growing and sustainable economy across Warwickshire through promoting energy efficiency. An energy audit for each business produces bespoke decarbonisation plans to identify greenhouse gas savings, leading to greater energy efficiency, lower energy bills and reduced carbon emissions. WBEAS includes a Government funded grant scheme, managed by the County Council, to support businesses with the costs of low carbon adoption. 52 businesses have now had a free energy audit, and eight have so far been awarded £300,000 of grants.

Directly supporting manufacturing businesses across all sectors to grow by identifying, understanding and removing their barriers to growth to support the creation of new jobs through improved productivity and competitiveness. It consists of funded support from specialist manufacturing advisors including digital diagnostic, strategic review, specialist one-to-one support, workshops and cohort-based small courses. Small grants are also available towards the costs of additional specialist support.

Businesses supported by the programme include MAS Precision Engineering in Atherstone who were supported to address a number of their barriers to growth including succession planning and compliance with the new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for exporting parts overseas.

A two-pronged approach; one support offer is for the Visitor Economy, focusing on businesses who are specific to the tourism and leisure sector. The second is for hospitality businesses who do not see themselves as tourism and leisure facing, specifically cafés, bars, restaurants etc. This project offers specialist one-to-one business coaching, workshops, and networking - including with larger businesses.

An example of a business to have benefited from Project Warwickshire is The Antelope pub in Lighthorne:

Warwickshire County Council's Portfolio Holder for Economy, Cllr Martin Watson, said: "The Business Growth Warwickshire Programme is making a real difference to businesses around our county and is a great example of local authorities and our partners working together to deliver bespoke support which is relevant to the challenges of today.

"The six strands of support are currently open until March 31st next year so I would encourage all business across the county to have a good look at what we are offering and see how they might be able to benefit from it."

Business Growth Warwickshire is funded by UK Government (through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund via all five district and borough councils and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero via West Midlands Combined Authority) and Warwickshire County Council. 

* To find out more about Business Growth Warwickshire and other support call CW Growth Hub on 0300 060 3747 or visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ukspf