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Package of support measures open to third sector businesses

14 January 2009

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne, has confirmed that  the package of measures unveiled by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson designed to address the cash flow, credit and investment needs of small and medium businesses is available to social enterprises and third sector businesses.

The support package builds upon the commitments outlined in November’s Pre Budget Report and aims to help companies struggling to access finance for working capital and investment.

The measures released include:

• a £10bn Working Capital Scheme, securing up to £20bn of short term bank lending to companies with a turnover of up to £500m;
• an Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, securing up to £1.3bn of additional bank loans to small firms with a turnover of up to £25m; and
• a £75m Capital for Enterprise Fund (£50m from Government augmented by £25m from the banks) to invest in small businesses which need equity

This support compliments other support available to the sector announced following the PBR including:

• a new £2.5m Third Sector Skills Body to influence the way the skills system meets the needs of third sector organisations;
• access to the £350m train to gain staff training scheme available for employees of third sector businesses; and
• Business Link online resources for helping businesses beat the credit crunch.

The government will set out in forthcoming action plan for the sector how we will ensure the third sector benefits from this support in practice. BERR are committed to ensuring the package reaches out to all types of business and will work with OTS to ensure that the package works for social enterprises and third sector businesses on the ground. The action plan will be published in February 2009.

In order to help businesses identify their financial needs, the Government launched a new “one stop shop” easy-to-use web portal. The portal, on the businesslink.gov website, will direct companies to the most appropriate form of support and help them ascertain their eligibility for a range of government support. You can access the portal via the link below:

• www.businesslink.gov.uk/realhelp/finance