By Heather Hamilton
Doncaster small and medium-sized enterprises have been able to enhance their productivity, digital capabilities, and resilience thanks to the recent Business Productivity and Digitisation grant, financially supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Eligible businesses were able to apply for grants that would boost their productivity and support their digital strategies. Grants for projects up to £24,999 were match funded whilst larger projects received between 30-50% grant depending on the outcomes achieved.
In the last two years, City of Doncaster Council has helped distribute over £1 million SPF funding that has provided, created, and safeguarded over 60 jobs across both categories.
From food producers to precision engineers, the SPF funding has helped create new jobs, improve productivity, introduce new technologies and bring businesses more up to date with investment in technology.
Almost 100 businesses have already benefitted from the grant, generating supply chain activity worth nearly £500,000.
Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, said: “The funding provided a welcome opportunity for those businesses with schemes ready to go but who just required that extra financial support to help get things off the ground”.
“We know that businesses have faced a lot of challenges over the past couple of years and we wanted to provide as much support as possible to help them grow and succeed”.
The grants have given Doncaster businesses the opportunity to adopt and upgrade digital solutions to help improve their online presence, increase productivity, and implement advanced technologies.
Matthew Kulleseid, Commercial Director, Johnston Shopfitters said: The impact of the receipt of this significant grant funding has been both very welcome and quite substantial.
It has allowed us to accelerate our business expansion plans, invest in new technology and processes quicker than anticipated and has already enabled us to realise considerable efficiencies within the business, both reducing costs and enabling us to attract new retail clients to our turnkey shopfitting business.
The application process has been smooth, efficient and straightforward from the outset and we have been greatly assisted by Sharon and the whole business growth team within Business Doncaster every step of the way.
The support we have received from Business Doncaster over the past 3 years has been invaluable, not just regarding grant funding but also with networking and client development and has been instrumental in assisting in the growth of our business.
Sarah Legat, Director, Igloo Contractors said: “We were fortunate to benefit from the Productivity & Digitisation Grant, which enabled us to gain a valuable accreditation. The support we received from Business Doncaster was outstanding — they guided us through every step of the process and made securing the grant straightforward and stress-free.”
Whilst the funding was to boost productivity and embrace digitalisation, priority was given to those creating and safeguarding jobs for Doncaster.
Funding is still available to Doncaster SME's with a project deliverable before the end of December 2025. For more information please contact:
To see details of other funding and grant opportunities please visit our dedicated webpage by clicking the button below:
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