Cheshire West & Chester Council UKSPF Business Support Programme

Transition Year (2025-26)

In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Government announced the UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund) would be extended as a transition year into 2025-26. The funding allocation for Cheshire West and Chester Council was subsequently confirmed as £3,646,047. The Supporting Local Business Programme of activity for the year is now live and the first step for both new entrepreneurs and established businesses seeking support through the projects listed below is to complete the Expression of Interest Form on the Let’s Talk Business website.

• Decarbonisation Project: aimed at supporting businesses to invest in lowcarbon technologies through providing access to grant funding, carbon audits and workshops.

Delivery Partner: Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside

• Business Advisory Service: providing advice, guidance and access to a small capital grants scheme to established businesses and entrepreneurs looking to start a new business. Support can take the form of access to experienced business advisers, one-to-one support, themed workshops, networking opportunities and signposting to local and national business support services.

Delivery Partner: West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce

• Innovation: Innovation Advisory Service and Inspiring Innovation Project

The Innovation Advisory Service is aimed at raising awareness of, stimulating engagement with and creating opportunities for local businesses to access both national and local innovation projects and providers.

Delivered by MMU as part of the Cheshire Innovation Network initiative, the Inspiring Innovation project will support businesses that demonstrate the ambition to grow and become more sustainable by developing, adopting and embedding innovation within their operations. Support is targeted at all West Cheshire business that are ready to invest in innovation but with a primary focus on SMEs.

Delivery Partner: Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Centre for Enterprise n Themed workshops have formed part of the support available

• Enhanced Business Support Programme for Social Enterprise:

Provision of an enhanced business support and advisory service to pre-start, new and existing social enterprises in Cheshire West and Chester through faceto-face and online one-to-one support.

Delivery Partner: Cheshire Community Action

• Rural Small Business Support Project: capital grants for small-scale investment in micro and small enterprises, including social enterprises, tourism attractions and diversification of farm businesses outside of agriculture, in rural areas.

Delivery Partner: Cheshire West and Chester Council

In addition to the projects listed above, UKSPF funding will support a number of other initiatives focused on enhancing West Cheshire’s market towns, visitor economy, inward investment offer and rural 5G connectivity.

It will also support ongoing use for UKSPFrelated activities of the BIG Hub locations at Meridian House in Winsford, the HQ Building in Chester and Theatre Port in Ellesmere Port.