£35m funding for rural businesses under the Growth Programme

DEFRA has confirmed that £35m (which could be increased to £50m subject to the number of "high-quality" applications received) of funding is being made available to rural businesses under the Growth Programme. The funding is available for projects which create new jobs, increase business turnover, improve productivity, etc. The minimum grant threshold has been reduced from £35,000 to £20,000 to allow smaller businesses to be eligible for a grant.

The Expression of Interest (EOI) window will open on Monday 4th November 2019 and the deadline for submitting an EOI is Sunday 16th February 2020. A news release is available on the GOV.UK website. Guidance and an EOI form should also be published on the GOV.UK website shortly.