Member Article

North East businesses missing out on Government support

New research has indicated that businesses in the North East are missing out on Government support which could help them to improve their growth and environmental impact.

Yorkshire Bank has discovered that less than 10% of the regions’ SMEs have taken advantage of entrepreneurial or R&D tax relief, capital allowances or Government investment incentives which could help improve environmental performance.

More worryingly, only 47% of businesses are even aware of the existence of these schemes.

Simon Lenney, managing partner of Yorkshire Bank’s North East Financial Solutions Centres, said: “While there are a range of incentive schemes available to businesses throughout the UK, it appears that few businesses are aware of what initiatives they can access and how.

“While not all funding and relief schemes are green-focused, there are several environmental
initiatives which could benefit a business’ bottom line, as well as help them improve their green credentials, such as the Renewable Heat Incentive, Feed-In Tariffs and the Green Deal.”

The Green Deal will enable businesses to make their premises more energy efficient, and will allow improvements such as insulation to be paid for via the Energy Bill. This will help businesses make savings on upfront and longer-term heating costs.

Simon Lenney added: “These incentive schemes are established to encourage businesses to work more efficiently and ultimately save money. For the take-up to be less than one in ten is a matter of concern and a way needs to be found to get the message across to them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .