Blog: CW Growth Hub CEO Craig Humphrey highlights the difference that changes to funding streams will make to businesses

The UK’s decision to leave the EU means changes to funding streams for businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire come into effect this year. In this blog, Craig Humphrey, Chief Executive Officer of CW Growth Hub, highlights the difference this will make and how the Growth Hub can continue to help companies.

“It is inevitable that the UK economy faces major changes and some tough decisions because a great deal of funding support was determined by EU funding schemes which now no longer apply.

“The UK Government has taken the decision, since our withdrawal from Europe, to replace those previous EU funds with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are devolving the responsibility for its delivery down to district and borough councils.

“This has led to a more fragmented landscape because we no longer have Coventry and Warwickshire-wide schemes.

“The funding for Warwickshire has been allocated separately to its district and boroughs who will all have autonomy about how their funding is delivered. The districts and boroughs do liaise with each other on business support but they all have their own priorities on how their allocation should be spent.

“I was previously Executive Leader of Rugby Borough Council so I fully understand the pressures they are facing, but, in my view, some funding would be better distilled down into wider-reaching schemes rather than to such a micro level.

“Also, at present, the Government is not being prescriptive enough and have left it to local knowledge about how those funds will be deployed which in theory might be good, but could mean they are not targeted into the aspects of business life that will have the most positive impact.

“These funds are to replace business support, but at present the lack of detailed guidance mean they could, for example, be spent on the High Street buying flowers or hanging baskets rather than allocating resources to enable businesses to apply for capital grants.

“The funding will be reviewed in two years and I think it might then be elevated to cover larger, more strategic geographical areas. 

“There are local priorities that local government will want to address which is natural but I hope that the decision-makers will look more holistically and consider the wider picture so that we benefit all of Coventry and Warwickshire. That is something CWLEP did very effectively.

“Businesses do not care about administrative boundaries, and the fact that Coventry and Warwickshire – with all its boroughs and districts – is a coherent economic area was the reason we were successful in obtaining a LEP in the first place.

“The overall pot of funding for businesses grants in Coventry and Warwickshire will be reduced but this is where institutions such as the Growth Hub will need to be innovative in the solutions we provide.

“That will be, for example, through being more commercial. The Growth Hub has an advantage over others as we established Coventry and Warwickshire Business Solutions five or six years ago and it was set-up with the potential to augment public funds with commercial income.

“I think we will see the commercial arm of the Growth Hub grow as the public purse shrinks because more solutions will be found for the private sector.

“The model that is held up as the international exemplar is Denmark which has a more regionalised business function that has been sustainable over a number of years.

“Another which is seen as bringing stability and consistency is the US Small Business Administration which is one of the oldest continually-operating business support agencies that was launched in 1953.

“It means businesses in America have a model which has been funded for generations which they know and understand and therefore allows them to plan for the medium and long-term.

“Scottish Enterprise – Scotland’s national economic development agency – is another that is well established with decades long stable funding which is just what businesses need.

“Business-owners constantly tell us that they want a single point of contact but they want that relationship to be stable and not subject to constant flux and we make that case to Government regularly.”