More financial support for Crawley's small businesses

The council has been awarded an additional £72,000 from the West Sussex County Council to invest in grants to support micro and small business growth in Crawley.

The borough council has hailed the scheme a success after financing 37 small businesses in Crawley since it launched in November 2016.

Grants for small business start-ups, are available to encourage Crawley residents to set up their own enterprises, by helping them meet business set up costs.

There are also grants to help existing small businesses to grow. For example, this could help a business to pay to access relevant training modules such as business planning or employment law and recruitment. The grant can also be used to invest in equipment, product or tech development, marketing activity or research.

Apprenticeship grants for local micro and small enterprises (businesses with fewer than 50 employees) to offset the costs of hiring and training apprentices.

Funding of up to £2,000 is available for small business grants and for all small business grants, 50 per cent match funding is required from the businesses. The maximum amount available for an apprenticeship grant is £1,500.

Councillor Peter Smith, Cabinet member for Planning and Economic Development at Crawley Borough Council, said: “This scheme has already provided a lot of support to many of Crawley’s small businesses and I’m delighted that we are able to continue doing this.”

“Small businesses make up the backbone of a community.”

Funding has recently been awarded to local bakery, JubyLee Bakes. Created by young adults with learning disabilities, JubyLee Bakes were granted £2,000 towards the costs of their business development plans.

General Manager at JubyLee Bakes, Ellen Tomlinson, said: “Crawley Borough Council’s generous small business grant has enabled JubyLee Bakes to completely redesign the packaging of our bakes, making the whole packaging process much more accessible to our learning disabled young people.”

Small Business Grants are available until the funding pot has run out. For more information visit www.crawley.gov.uk/smallbusinessgrants or email [email protected].