UKSPF 25-26 local business grants fund guidance

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:

• Local Business – grants of £10,000 to £40,000 requiring 100% match value of grant
• REPF – small and micro rural business grants of £10,000 to £40,000 requiring 100% match value of grant
• Upskilling – grants from £500 to £4,000 for employee training costs.  We will fund up to 70% of costs up to the maximum of £4000. You need to ensure you can contribute a minimum of 30% of the training costs

Startup - due to open 29 September:

• grants of £500 to £4,000 requiring match of 30% of training costs

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:

• purchase machinery and equipment for new production methods
• modernise or automate production systems
• development growth into new product markets
• new production facility
• grow in-house technology to increase productivity
• projects that support our Dorset council economic ambitions

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:

• core or continuation costs e.g. normal staffing costs, business rates, normal insurance, and other running costs normally incurred by the organisation
• projects that have already started unless it is a new phase of development (building) that has not yet begun
• projects outside the Dorset Council area i.e. Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and other surrounding areas
• projects which we believe could harm the reputation of Dorset Council
• projects that cannot demonstrate sound financial stability and match funding - details may be requested
• training courses that can be funded by other providers ie. FE/Colleges

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:

• purchase, lease or replacement of motor vehicles or mini buses
• staff wages
• non fixed equipment and other small non fixed capital items e.g. printers, personal computers and electronic equipment, mobile phones
• items replaced due to wear and tear, items considered ‘business as usual’ spend, or revenue costs ie, rent
• payments for activities of a party political or exclusively religious nature
• value Added Tax (VAT) reclaimable from His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
• stock
• gifts, or payments for gifts or donations
• statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties
• payments for works or activities which the lead local authority, project deliverer, end beneficiary, or any member of their partnership has a statutory duty to undertake, or that are fully funded by other sources
• contingencies and contingent liabilities
• dividends
• bad debts, costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors, or winding up a company
• expenses in respect of litigation, unfair dismissal or other compensation
• costs incurred by individuals in setting up and contributing towards private pension schemes
• paid for lobbying, entertaining, petitioning or challenging decisions, which means using the Fund to lobby (via an external firm or in-house staff) to undertake activities intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political activity including the receipt of UKSPF funding; or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action
• projects or costs where there is a statutory duty to provide them

REPF grants cannot support projects that have received funding from other Defra schemes. This includes:

• The Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme - funding for farmers and land managers to work in partnership with National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty bodies to deliver projects on climate, nature, people and place
• The Farming Investment Fund - grants to improve productivity and bring environmental benefits, covering 2 funds - the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund and the Farming Transformation Fund
• The Platinum Jubilee Village Hall Improvement Grant Fund - grant funding over 3 years (to 2025) to support capital improvement projects for village halls, covering extending buildings and modernising facilities

Dates for this one-off grant are as follows:

• Local Business grants open Monday 1 September 2025
• Startup grants open Monday 29 September 2025
• applications may close at any time once the funding pot is exhausted 
• Grants Panel will assess applications monthly
• decisions will be communicated to all applicants within 2 weeks of the grants panel sitting

Read the Grant Scheme Document before you apply.

• make sure that you have access to any supporting documents and policies that we require you to provide to complete and submit your application
• see if you need to review/improve any of your policies
• any project requiring planning permission or any other consents must have all permissions in place including landlord’s if necessary
• make sure you can complete your project before the end of January 2026. We need to allocate and commit our funds by this date. There will be no extensions

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:

• 1 set of approved accounts
• last 2 bank statements
• recent utility bill or similar type of invoice (within 3 months) to verify trading address
• certificate of Public Liability Insurance / Indemnity Cover and/or Certificate of Employers Liability Insurance/ Indemnity Cover
• Equality & Diversity policy
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) policy (as per Data protection Act 2018)
• safeguarding policy, Health & Safety policy of Staff Handbook (as relevant)
• quotes for any works you require to be funded (minimum of two for project items over £20,000).  Quotes from related businesses or businesses who share Directors are not accepted
• evidence of planning permission (if required)

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:

• the overall aims and objectives of your organisation and provision 
• a summary of your project
• evidence of need for your project
• brief but specific details of how the outcomes will be achieved.
• how you will monitor and evaluate outcomes.
• full costings for your grant application

We will only accept applications submitted through our online form. Once a submission is made there is no ability to amend the application again.

Questions on writing your application

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.

Apply now

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.

Unsuccessful applications

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:

• any funds awarded will only be released when the grants panel are confident that all other funding is secured and in place
• applicants who are successful will need to be able to secure and draw down other external funding and start their project to complete by the end January 2026
• All grant claims are paid in arrears unless prior consent is given by Dorset council
• Projects not completed by the end of January 2026 may have the offer of a grant withdrawn.  There are no payments after 31 March 2026
• if any changes are made to the project you must consult with us. Failure to do so may result in part or all the grant awarded having to be returned
•  if for any reason you find that your project costs require a change you must contact us immediately to discuss how this will impact on your original project
• applicants will be asked to sign a standard grant agreement with full details of their grant award including terms and conditions
• all organisations will need to submit an 'End of Project Report' with their grant claim
• applicants will need to demonstrate and evidence that their project is needed and promotes productivity and economic growth
• decisions made by our grants panel are final. There is no appeals process
• we will not accept/consider any applications who have not consulted with our business support provider SBA CIC
• applications not submitted on the council’s online application form will not be considered
• we reserve the right to make changes to the guidance and/or programme after its launch. We will communicate any changes as quickly as we can
• in some cases, it may not be possible to award the full amount requested by the applicant. If this is the case a ‘partial’ award may be offered
• we may share information regarding your grant request with other internal funding agencies so that we are able to make the best use of our funding and avoid duplication

We will shortlist, review and make recommendations for funding via our grant panels.

Grant panel assessment dates are:

• 18 September 2025
• 1 October 2025
• 22 October 2025
• 5 November 2025

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:

• make informed funding decisions
• avoid duplication of funding
• ensure value for money is achieved through our grant making processes

We also make sure that applicants’ data is stored appropriately. See details of our Data Privacy and GDPR policy.