Hayley is proud to be part of such a "welcoming and supportive team"

A year ago, Hayley Lineker joined Warwickshire County Council's Economy & Skills team as Contract and Project Monitoring Officer. In the wake of Covid, her first year in the role has been like no other, but the team has worked tirelessly to support the county's business and Hayley is "proud to be a part of a team who came together in unprecedented times to deliver projects to such a high standard."

January marked one year since I joined Warwickshire County Council - for me it has been a year of hard work, high reward and being surrounded by a welcoming and supportive team which has made an incredibly busy year a most enjoyable experience.

Who can forget that this team is 'Award-winning' after achieving the Exceptional Team Award at the Star Awards in December for their work on the Adapt & Diversify Grants Programme?! I am proud to be a part of a team who came together in unprecedented times to deliver projects to such a high standard. I’d like to especially thank Gill Dale for the support and encouragement she has provided to me over the past year, helping me develop further into my role.

A major piece of work I have been involved in this past year, was the application to extend the CW Business – Start, Grow and Scale Programme. We secured an additional £1m of expenditure which will bring in £500,000 of ERDF income and an additional £165,000 of external match funding, taking the £3.6m project through to June 2023.

This was an extremely rewarding piece of work, allowing our programme to continue providing support to an additional 279 businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire for a further 18 months. Included in this extension application was the funding for the new Tourism and Leisure strand, designed to support the recovery and future growth of the Tourism & Leisure sector which was one of the worst affected by the pandemic.

This programme is set to engage with 300 businesses and provide support to 100 businesses in the sector. The programme has now reached a massive milestone of just over £1m claimed from the European Regional Development Fund which is a testament to the quality of work produced throughout the WCC Programme Team and delivery partners.

That work requires a lot of concentration and a relentless demand for accuracy. Intricacies for the ERDF are crucial when it comes to the level of checking and attention to detail...every piece of output and transaction evidence must adhere to the ERDF guidance. To help ensure that we continue to meet these demands, and get support out to businesses as swiftly as possible, throughout the last year I have taken a lead on training new staff and delivery teams on the ERDF requirements. This will mean that each claim we submit to the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, and the reports that we submit to Programme Boards and stakeholders, is accurate.

I am looking forward to continuing working with this fantastic team on all the exciting opportunities and challenges that are yet to come. My colleagues in E&S, beavering away behind the scenes to ensure that businesses receive the support they need, really are unsung heroes.