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MGP delivers business support plea after passing 10,000 jobs milestone
A business support programme that has created and safeguarded over 10,000 manufacturing jobs is urging local authorities to ensure assistance is still in place under the new funding landscape .
Bosses at the Manufacturing Growth Programme ( MGP ), which provides grants and dedicated consultancy to SME manufacturers in 18 LEP regions , are warning that the potential gap between European Regional Development Funding and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund ( UKSPF ) could see businesses left without the assistance they need .
Regional Director Dean Barnes believes the fragmented nature of UKSPF – where each local district will receive its own pot of money – means it will be difficult to deliver good quality support to management teams that have guided their firms through Brexit and , more recently , Covid-19 .
The rallying call comes as MGP reveals its latest performance data , with more than £ 13.5million in grants delivered to 4300 companies over the last three years .
This has leveraged £ 21m of private sector investment and helped manufacturers enter new markets , diversify their products / services , improve efficiencies and secure vital quality accreditations .
“ We ’ re about to enter one of the most exciting , but challenging times in business support where the focus will fall away from ERDF and into a new landscape where each place ( it could be as small as a District Council ) will be given control of what they want to invest in and how they want to shape their local investment plan ,” explained Dean .
“ It is key that neighbouring councils work together to pool funding to deliver support at a regional level to ensure they get the most out of their budgets and reduce the amount of ‘ business support ’ noise in the marketplace .”
He went on to add : “ The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is intended to help the Government ’ s desire to ‘ level up ’, but businesses must have a voice on what they want .
“ They don ’ t just need grant funding , they also want advice , best practice implementation and help with long-term improvements .”
24 PECM Issue 57