Derbyshire Small and Medium Enterprises may be among those to benefit from government investment of £95 million, announced last November. The funding makes up part of the Regional Growth Fund worth £1.4 billion. The funding will be used to support companies looking for finance to invest in new capital assets. It is believed that the funding for SMEs will create a minimum of 4000 jobs and new investment worth around £50 million.

The fund supports businesses in areas which are mainly reliant on the public sector, projects which are set to create employment opportunities and are supported by private sector investment. SMEs which haven’t been able to access commercial funding for projects which are designed for the creation of jobs and capital investment will benefit from the new scheme. The grants will support local businesses to create and deliver growth to local communities, by helping SMEs to boost employment and invest in capital assets.

The distribution of the funding will be undertaken by NatWest, HSBC and RBS. To qualify for a share of the scheme which is being managed by RBS and NatWest, a company should have less than £25 million turnover. The HSBC requires SMEs to have less than 50 million euros in turnover. Companies which are considering applying for a grant should be considering investment in capital assets, like new machinery and plan to create jobs but not be able to obtain regular bank finance. It will be possible to secure a grant of up to half a million pounds which will run alongside a bank loan which has commercial terms.