Decision details

To seek approval for Creative Sheffield to enter into a funding agreement for ESIF (ERDF) grant to enable the delivery of business support to pre start and early stage businesses (up to 2 years old).  Effective from 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2019.

Please note this is not to seek approval for Sheffield City Council to act as Accountable Body.

It is recommended that the Executive Director:-

(i) authorises the Council to accept the following grant offer for the Launchpad programme from Barnsley MBC (the lead and the contract holder with DCLG) for up to £450,000 of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant (representing a total project spend of £750,000) over a three year period, effective from 1^st April 2016 to 31^st March 2019; and

(ii) notes that this is not to seek approval for Sheffield City Council to act as an Accountable Body for any third party.

Reputation and Reach

By recommending the approval of this funding Creative Sheffield can build on the reputation that its business support programme under the Business Sheffield banner has built since October 2014.

Investment

The Launchpad programme allows Sheffield City Council to build on its current provision of pre-start and early stage business support and will allow Creative Sheffield a greater degree of financial stability for the Business Sheffield service over the next three years, as the programme will part fund (60% intervention rate) with European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); 2 x Start-Up Advisers, 3 x Business Advisers and 1 x Sales and Marketing Expert (50%) at a time of significant financial challenge.

Impact

The funding will provide the following outputs:

• Support 135 early stage businesses

• Increase the number of employees those businesses above are taking on by 50
• Work with 217 individuals interested in starting a business to be ready to run their business.

Do Nothing - Continue the pre-start and early stage business support without Launchpad involvement:

Creative Sheffield will only be able to continue funding the team from its central resource for a limited period without any additional income.  This would result in a squeeze on finances as Creative Sheffield comes under more pressure.  The risk of a drastic cut to the service would be high. 

This option would also form a reputational risk if Sheffield City Council were not involved in the city region wide Launchpad programme.  If the service for this kind of client group diminished because of resource constraints business support in the city for pre-starts and early stage businesses would be limited and not would not compare to our city region local authority neighbours who are involved in the Launchpad programme with Sheffield individuals and businesses potentially going to other Launchpad partners for support.