Umbrella company contractors might be interested to hear that the government will be distributing £450 million of funding over the next few months to deprived areas as part of its regional growth fund initiative.
The coalition aims to boost the creation of jobs in the private sector in areas that have been heavily dependent on public sector employment.
Regions in the north will be the major beneficiaries whilst London and the south east will get nothing. In fact businesses in the north west and north east account for almost 50% of the bids that have been approved during the opening round of funding.
Vince Cable said that the government adopted the criteria of alleviating concentrated deprivation and bids were judged accordingly. However, he went on to say that he hoped applicants who had been unsuccessful would bid again in round two.
The government hopes the funding will leverage in excess of £2.5 billion in private sector investment and enable the creation of thousands of new jobs. Lord Heseltine is responsible for the allocation of funds and he has also channelled £150 million into the business angel scheme, a micro-financing initiative and a bank lending programme to support small enterprises.
The second round of bidding is aimed more specifically at small businesses although the minimum you can apply for is £1 million. This could result in partnerships coming together and proposing community finance initiatives that would distribute micro-loans to small enterprises.
A series of roadshows will be taking place, run by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to encourage small companies to put forward their proposals and advise them on the bidding process.
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