This commission relates to a package of business support and 1-2-1 tailored business advice to businesses of any size, trading for 6 months plus. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recognises the importance of 1-2-1 business advice in order to help businesses become more resilient, grow and increase productivity. This may include for example, business planning, accessing finance, innovation and the adoption of management best practice and use of technology.

An annual allocation is made to each Growth Hub from BEIS (via the Local Enterprise Partnership) to increase the capacity of Growth Hubs to offer 1-2-1 sessions with businesses. This year’s allocation is £54,000 and three advisors have been appointed via the council’s ProContract Procurement portal - with assistance from the Commercial Services Team.

Specialist support can include, but not limited to, support in the following areas: Legal, HR, Finance (including accountancy and accessing the different types of finance), Digital (supporting businesses to get on-line) and Sales and Marketing expertise to help businesses look at new ways to reach new customers/markets, streamline processes, support effectiveness of sales and help diversify offerings.

Direct 1-2-1 support is capped at two days (8 hour days) maximum per business. Advisors are then able to claim for up to a further two days admin time to support research, session preparation, report writing etc around the sessions. In total, the business will receive the equivalent of up to four days support.

The funding to support this package is to be spent by the end of March 2022. This contract will run from July 2021 – 31st March 2022 with the option to extend for a further 3 months - this will be subject to the council securing additional funds but the total value of the contract will not be above £75,000.