New grant makes Duncan & Toplis services free for small businesses

Small businesses in the East Midlands can now access grant funding to cover the cost of a range of services offered by Duncan & Toplis.

The newly announced £20m grant scheme will dispense grants of £1,000-£5,000 to small and medium sized businesses in England to help them access professional services including advice from accountants, HR experts and lawyers.

The scheme can also be used for the purchase of new technology and equipment.

Services can be fully funded through the scheme and there is no obligation for businesses to contribute financially.

£20m has been made available for the scheme, provided by the England European Regional Development Fund and allocated to Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Growth Hubs to support businesses in each area.

Each LEP has been allocated a minimum of £250,000, with the following sums made available in the East Midlands:

– Greater Lincolnshire – £507,928
– Derby, Derbyshire , Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – £720,398
– Humber – £357,993
– Leicester and Leicestershire – £408,785

Details on how to apply for the funding should be made available by the various LEPs shortly, with applications in Greater Lincolnshire set to open for ‘expressions of interest’ from 9am on 9th September.

The LEP growth hub network works alongside local, national, public and private sector partners to coordinate and connect local businesses to the support they need.

Funding is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Damon Brain, Director at Duncan & Toplis

It follows a £2bn Kickstart Scheme to create jobs for young people, as well as numerous loans and tax reliefs, such as the cut to VAT for the hospitality sector, as well as cash grants such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

Since the start of the lockdown, Duncan & Toplis’ support has helped organisations across the region to protect their workers, ensure the survival and sustainability of their businesses and adapt to make the most of new opportunities and control their outgoings.

So far, Duncan & Toplis has also helped 464 businesses access over £10m in CJRS support and helped clients to access a further £12.99m in other funding to help them through the pandemic.

The company has also provided free information and guidance through its online COVID-19 Knowledgebase and a regular Coronavirus e-news update. These information services deliver clear and up to date explanations of the government’s support packages as well as advice and insights from its team of experts and news of important and relevant changes and updates.

So far, these free to read articles have been accessed more than 400,000 times since the start of the pandemic.

Duncan & Toplis is one of the Midlands’ largest practices of accountants and business advisers, ranking as the 29th largest in the UK. The company has held the title of ICAEW East Midlands Large Accountancy Firm of the Year since 2017 and it also holds an Investor in Customers Gold Award for exceptional client service.

Duncan & Toplis has 11 offices in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire and is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year.

More information about this scheme and other support packages for businesses in the East Midlands, visit the Duncan & Toplis’ COVID-19 Knowledgebase at www.duntop.co.uk or contact Duncan & Toplis on 0808 169 1196.