By Anna Jordan on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
The £20m Brexit Support Fund to support struggling businesses after Brexit has only given out £6.8m of its allocated funding.
Individuals and organisations are calling for the fund, now closed to new applications, to extend to a second round.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove launched the Brexit Support Fund in February, encouraging businesses that trade with the EU to claim up to £2,000 each to help pay for training and professional advice. However, figures show that businesses who applied only received £1,555 rather than the £2,000 maximum.
Hilary Benn MP, co-chair of the cross-party UK Business and Trade Commission, said the support scheme was “more of an obstacle course, which discourages applications by making SMEs jump through too many hoops for a very small return”.
Businesses were only able to apply if their overseas trading was purely focused on the EU, including Northern Ireland, with their imports and exports not going anywhere else. Business groups did lobby to have the rules relaxed so that firms that were predominantly trading with the EU could apply.
>See also: Top five tips for SME exporters in a post-Brexit world
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