Following the UKSPF grants of 2024, further funding for businesses are now available for the financial year 2025/26. Meeting the government priority of Supporting Local Business, funding of circa £810,283 is available across all grants for eligible businesses to apply.
For grants bigger than £40,000 in the first instance contact the UKSPF team with an expression of interest (EOI). This may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The fund provides capital or revenue grants to increase productivity of businesses in the Dorset Council area to develop growth and economic stability. The grants focus is to encourage productivity and growth, foster innovation and help create new jobs.
Awards will be one-off and cannot be repeated or retrospective due to the nature of the funding.
Grant recipients must be within the Dorset council area. We will not provide funds to those businesses outside of the council area ie. BCP.
Full details of the grant scheme are available in the Grant Scheme Document which should be read in conjunction with the information on these pages.
Applicants who meet the funds eligibility and funding criteria can apply for:
Four grants are available in two separate online application forms.
Local Business Grants - applications for:
Startup - due to open 29 September:
Note: You must have engaged on a Startup course prior to application (other courses may be eligible) and receive 1:1 support available free from our business partner Evolve.
Projects and training must complete by 31 January 2026 with all claims made by 28 February 2026. No activity or payments can be made after 31 March 2026 when UKSPF 2025-26 closes.
Local Business grants. We can support capital or revenue projects that improve productivity, provides business growth and leads to better employment. Examples might include:
REPF - for small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas including where this is intended for farm business diversification projects outside of agriculture.
Upskilling - short in-person or online training that develops and supports your business needs and improves the skills of employees. An example would be a Domestic Assessor course that upskills an employee to develop a new avenue of business development, or an industry led trade qualification that develops a specialised skill advancing business growth.
Startup - eligible projects that support development and growth and support of your new enterprise. Prior attendance on a Startup course is required.
For registered entrepreneurs and enterprises within the first 3 years of trading.
We are unable to fund:
For the Local Business grants SME’s in the Dorset council area that are medium, small or micro can apply:
To check if you qualify as an SME see the government descriptions.
For this grant fund the following definitions apply:
| Turnover or balance sheet total | Headcount | Business size |
|---|---|---|
| less than or equal to £50 million or £43 million | less than 250 | Medium sized |
| less than or equal to £10 million or £10 million | less than 50 | Small |
| less than or equal to £2 million or £2 million | less than 10 | Micro |
REPF grants are only available to micro and small businesses.
Successful UKSPF 2022-25 business grant awardees may apply however applicants who have not received grants in previous rounds or schemes may be prioritised.
Only one grant is available from any of the UKSPF grant funds. No further grant will be considered.
If unsuccessful one further application may be made providing funding is still available.
Please refer to the full grant details in the UKSPF 2025-26 Grant Scheme Document.
Funding from the UKSPF cannot be used for the following:
REPF grants cannot support projects that have received funding from other Defra schemes. This includes:
Dates for this one-off grant are as follows:
Read the Grant Scheme Document before you apply.
Applicants for the UKSPF 25-26 Local Business grant scheme will first be directed to apply via the SPF-funded local business support service with SBA CIC to obtain a reference code for the application form.
Before applying, please ensure you have read and understood the information and terms in the UKSPF 2025-26 Scheme Document.
Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
The UKSPF Grant Scheme document at 7.3 Information to include in Submission provides details of requirements. You need to have read and understood the rules regarding Subsidy Control at section 6. Appendix 1: Grant Schemes, Additional terms – Subsidy Control, of the grant Scheme Document.
You will need a copy of the following documents to complete this application for upload to the online system:
You will be able to complete pages of the application and save before submission. This allows you to return and complete pages of the application later if required.
Key boxes in the application form require you to have prepared answers to the following:
We will only accept applications submitted through our online form. Once a submission is made there is no ability to amend the application again.
In the first instance ensure you have read all the supporting documents and Grant Scheme Document. For further queries contact us at sharedprosperityfund@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
Once you have completed the online application form, you will receive an email notification from Dorset Council confirming that your application is complete. You will also be provided with a unique application number and a PDF copy of your application.
The Dorset Council grants team will then assess your application and make recommendations for the grant panel to consider your application. Should we require additional information we will contact you directly. We aim to notify you of our decision within 2 weeks of it being viewed by the grants panel.
If your application is unsuccessful, we will notify you by email. Decisions made by our grants panel are final. There is no appeals process. If you wish to make a complaint you can do so here.
This UKSPF Business grant 25-26 fund is subject to the following terms and conditions:
We will shortlist, review and make recommendations for funding via our grant panels.
Grant panel assessment dates are:
Every effort will be made to present you application to the nearest date of grant panel after assessment.
Where demand for grants is high, we reserve the right to change these dates.
Applications will all be assessed by an independent 3rd before presenting scores, as per the criteria in the Grant Scheme Document, with recommendations to the grants panel. This is for guidance only.
Each Grant Panel will comprise of at least 3 specialist officers and the portfolio holder for business and at least one representative who brings with them their expertise and knowledge of Dorset’s business community.
Where a conflict of interest occurs, the relevant officer/representative will not take part in the assessment and the conflict of interest will be recorded.
The panel will assess each application against the fund criteria. Decisions are made by a majority vote. Where there is no majority, our portfolio holder for business will have the deciding vote. The panel decision is final.
If an applicant withdraws their application after the panel decision has been made, the chair, in consultation with the other panel members, can agree to award the grant to another applicant.
Any decision to amend the award if the project or organisation has changed, or new information comes to light that affects the application, will be considered by the grants officer and panel chair, in consultation with other panel members as appropriate.
We may share basic data information regarding your application with other internal grant managers or funding streams and our business support partner SBA CIC.
This enables us to:
We also make sure that applicants’ data is stored appropriately. See details of our Data Privacy and GDPR policy.
