The business basics fund will help small businesses access technology to unlock £100 billion of untapped profit in the economy.
The £8 million fund – which is part of the government’s modern industrial strategy – aims to increase national productivity.
The money will be received by businesses, charities, trade organisations and the public sector to allocate support to small businesses wanting to gain technology and management skills.
The department for business, energy and industrial strategy alongside the public body Innovate UK will work with leading experts to evaluate the success of the programme in order to guide decisions on future policies.
Andrew Griffiths, the small business minister who unveiled the funding, said: “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, with more than 1,000 new businesses starting up every day, and it’s vital that we support them to grow through our modern industrial strategy.”
Reasons behind the funding
The funding follows research from CBI which discovered by encouraging businesses to leverage technology, business support services and management techniques, the UK economy could receive a £100 billion boost and 5% reduction in income inequality. Something the government says will help small businesses ‘gain power’.
Matthew Fell, chief policy director at CBI UK, said: “Put simply, UK businesses must do more to improve their productivity to get themselves match fit to compete globally in the years ahead. Low uptake of the nuts and bolts technologies of today is a key feature of the productivity puzzle that can, and must, be tackled.”
A review of the UK’s current business productivity was launched in May and the latest funding is just one of several measures being introduced by the government to increase productivity.
The motivation behind the new initiative is likely to be connected to the UK’s decision to leave the EU, which has put pressure on politicians to prove its success, as business and trade has been at the centre of many of the discussions surrounding Brexit.
