We'll give you up to 35% funding for business improvement projects costing between £3,000 and £8,000 (maximum grant of £2,800) - you can use the grant for almost any type of business support that will help your business to grow - from marketing and web design to financial or human resources planning.

Please note: We are currently able to support businesses based in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham. Unfortunately, at this stage, we are unable to take applications from businesses based in the Tees Valley.

Even if you're not planning a project to grow your business, you could still apply for a fully funded place on a two day Masterclasses run by local experts.

Find out more

Some of the most frequently asked questions about the funding

If you run a business based in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear or County Durham with plans to grow turnover and/or employ more staff, you may be able to access funding from the North East Business Support Fund.

We've worked hard to make the whole NEBSF process as straightforward as possible - we want you to focus on your business and get the help you need with the minimum amount of work.

Step 1 - You'll fill out a simple online application.

Step 2 - You'll obtain a quote from your chosen Service Provider, if you haven't already.

Step 3 - One of our advisors will visit, you’ll receive a Funding Contract and the project can start.

Step 4 - Your chosen Service Provider will complete your project.

Step 5 - You’ll pay your Service Provider.

Step 6 - You'll claim your funding from us and review the project.

To be eligible for a Grant or Masterclass, your business must be based in one of the following North East Local Authority areas:

- Northumberland, Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, County Durham or Sunderland.

To check whether your business is eligible, please use this link to confirm that the company’s registered address (or your home address for a sole trader) is in one of the Local Authority areas listed above.

No! The North East Business Support Fund cannot support projects that have already started (or that have been completed) - please do not start your project until you have received your signed contract pack.

We've tried to get a range of projects covered by our North East business funding, but they must cost between £3,000 and £8,000 and will attract up to 35% funding (a maximum grant of £2800). Listed below are the main types of project that we can fund - if you've got a project in mind that's not on the list, get in touch and we'll try to help.

  • Business growth planning
  • Strategy Development
  • Change Management
  • Business Expansion Planning
  • Product development / diversification
  • Developing Quality Management Systems
  • Process improvement systems
  • Financial restructuring
  • Marketing planning
  • Web design / development
  • Accessing new markets
  • Succession planning
  • HR Strategy planning and development
  • Design costs for marketing

Want to talk to us about your project - just call 01670 813322.

Ready to apply?

We like to keep things simple, it should only take about 10 minutes

Go to the application form

Grow with us

We've already funded over 2000 projects. With our help, you could transform the outlook of your business too.

"The process with NBSL was very simple and very easy, we would definitely recommend them to other businesses."Alex Ingham - MI Supplies

"The team at NBSL were fantastic to work with. They really helped us to get talking to the right people."Mark Steele - Reevu

"NBSL were so supportive, and the process of accessing funding was simple and straightforward."Jon Chadwick - Durham Distillery

Funding is provided by the European
Regional Development Fund 2014-20

Providers

Register your business as an NBSL provider and stay up to date with the latest funding information.

If you provide business support services like marketing, business planning, human resources or financial planning find out how you could register with us to offer a grant of up to £2800 to your clients for work that you do for them.

Find out more

Our Programmes

We support businesses from start up to growth.

Our unique support programmes can provide help no matter what stage your business is at.

North East Business Support FundNew Enterprise AllowanceEnterprise Support Northumberland

Business Bullets

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