The CBI informs the government’s new Help to Grow Scheme

In the Spring Budget, the government announced a new £520m Help to Grow package that will offer SMEs discounts on productivity-enhancing software, such as CRM and e-commerce, as well as routes to heavily subsidised expert management training. 

The scheme is divided into two strands: ‘Management’ and ‘Digital,’ and is due to go live in autumn.

This represents a significant win for the CBI as it reflects a central recommendation from our latest Tech Tracker report calling on the government to support firms to innovate by funding a voucher scheme to improve access to technologies, coupled with practical business advice. 

Since the budget announcement, the CBI has been a key contributor to the government’s insight gathering process as civil servants seek to design both strands to be accessible and valuable for businesses.  

CBI President, Lord Bilimoria currently sits on the ‘Help to Grow: Management-Advisory' Council, and members of the government’s Help to Grow team recently presented to a group of SME members informing smaller firms on how they might move through the training programme and topics covered by the modules.  

On the digital side, members of the CBI Innovation team have attended weekly government-hosted roundtable sessions, looking at how to make the scheme beneficial for potential vendors, and user friendly. Both parties are well represented in the CBI’s membership. The insight shared with the Help to Grow team in these sessions, and through online surveys, has drawn on the expertise of: the CBI’s Innovation Council, Innovation Adoption Working Group, SME groups and Trade Association members.   

Here you can find a survey, looking to collect the views of SMEs that may use the scheme. The innovation team continues to engage with the relevant government departments in charge of Help to Grow and will provide updates as the scheme develops.  

If you have any questions, please contact Nathan Brown.