Last edited 28 Jul 2022

Help to grow digital scheme

1 Update
2 Criteria
3 Comment
4 Background
5 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Update

In July 2022, the UK Government expanded its Help to grow, digital scheme to include small businesses with more than 1 employee, this boosts the number of eligible businesses by 760,000 so that up to 1.24 million businesses are eligible to apply for support.

It is also announced that eCommerce software is available through the scheme to help businesses ramp up sales of products and services online. This includes helping them to manage their inventory, take payments and gather data and insights on customers’ needs. Businesses which adopt eCommerce software see on average a 7.5% increase in employee sales over 3 years.

This means businesses can now access a £5,000 discount on 30 software solutions from 14 leading technology suppliers for eCommerce, Digital Accounting and CRMsoftware. Additionally, the government has announced that Help to Grow: Digital will support one-to-one advice for SME's on how best they can adopt digital technology. The government will be launching applications for advice platforms to partner with the scheme from today, and the advice service will go live later this year.

The Help to Grow: Digital sits alongside the Help to Grow: Management scheme as the government’s flagship programme to help small and medium-sized businesses to scale-up and grow. Help to Grow: Management offers business leaders 50 hours of leadership and management training across 12 weeks, with the government covering 90% of the costs involved.

The schemes help businesses boost their productivity and grow, which can lead to more high-skill, high-wage jobs.

[edit] Criteria

To qualify for the financial discount through Help to Grow: Digital, businesses can be from any business sector, but must meet all 4 of the following criteria:

be a business based in the United Kingdom registered with Companies House or be a registered society on the Financial Conduct Authorities Mutuals Register
have at least 1 employee who is not an owner, up to a maximum of 249 employees
have been actively trading for over 12 months, and have an incorporation date of at least 365 days prior to application
be purchasing the approved software for the first time

Eligible businesses will receive one financial discount towards the purchase of one approved software product up to a maximum of £5,000 (not including VAT) in eCommerce, Customer Relationship Management and Digital Accounting software product categories. The financial discount covers 12 months’ worth of approved software product core costs, exclusive of VAT.

The approved technology suppliers on the Help to Grow: Digital online website are:

e-Commerce software:

Shopwired
Gob2b
Kentico
Comgem
EKM
Big Commerce

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software

CapsuleCRM
Zymplify
Livepoint Software Solutions Ltd
Gold-VisionCRM
Deskpro Ltd

Digital Accounting software

Sage
Intuit Ltd
Crunch

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software allows businesses to store their customer contact and order data all in one secure, central location.CRMhas the capability to simplify business processes and enable businesses to be more profitable and efficient. Businesses who useCRMsystems to manage their sales and customers see on average an 18% boost to their productivity.

Digital Accounting software makes essential business finance tasks like raising invoices, tracking spend, and sharing information easier to manage. Businesses who adopt Digital Accounting software see on average an 11.8% increase in employee sales over 3 years.

eCommerce software helps businesses sell their products and services online, including by streamlining management of their inventory and online shopfront, taking payments and providing data and insights on customer needs and experience. Businesses who adopt eCommerce software see on average a 7.5% increase in employee sales over 3 years.

[edit] Comment

Business Minister Lord Callanan said: “Boosting productivity isn’t some abstract concept to be sniffed at – for individual SME's it means bigger sales and breaking into new markets. It can add £100 billion to the British economy overall, creating jobs and opportunity across the country. Adopting the latest technology is proven to help businesses make the most of their potential, and by making more than one million firms eligible for the scheme, we’re helping to level up the UK economy and bolster the ability of our businesses to compete with the best worldwide.”

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Alan Mak said: “Extending our Help to Grow: Digital scheme will enable thousands more SME's to become more innovative, more competitive, and more profitable.Helping them adopt new technology to support customers, manage accounts and sell online will save them time and money. This will boost productivity and help create jobs and prosperity across the UK.”

Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said: “We are very pleased to have worked hard with BEIS to adopt our ask to expand the eligibility criteria of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme to support more small businesses getting the software they need. Our research shows the smallest firms are least likely to have adopted tech products because of the lack of resources although they would make the most productivity gains through adoption. It’s good that Ministers are listening. Together with the addition of e-Commerce software and one-to-one advice for SME's on technology adoption, this will help small businesses enhance their operations and drive efficiency and growth.

Murray Lambell, Vice President and General Manager, eBay UK said: “This is extremely welcome news for a significant number of the 300,000 small businesses who use eBay every day to grow their business. Many of our commercial sellers are micro-businesses who are extremely entrepreneurial but inevitably time poor. Being able to purchase e-commerce and other productivity-enhancing software at a discount could really help give rocket boosters to what are already fast-growing businesses. And given that three quarters of our small businesses are based outside London and the South East, this also has the potential to boost the government’s Levelling Up agenda.”