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Get funding for recruitment, IT, and training…
What is it?
A new Government grant to help businesses complete customs declarations.
The grant will give you £3,000 towards recruitment costs for each new employee, though upfront costs won’t be covered for employees being redeployed in the business.
You can also get up to £12,000 to cover the salary costs for each new or redeployed employee.
The grant will cover 100% of externally provided training costs up to £1,500 per employee on the course. It will also cover 100% of costs for internally run training up to £250 per employee on the course.
You can also get 100% of the costs relating to your IT expenditure to improve the efficiency of making customs declarations. This is limited to a maximum of 200,000 euros.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible your business must not have previously failed to meet its tax obligations.
It must also be either:
- Currently established in the UK; or
- Have been established in the UK for at least 12 months before submitting the application.
Also, your business must:
- Either complete or intend to complete, the customs declarations for yourself or your clients.
- Be an organisation which recruits, trains and places apprentices in businesses completing customs declarations
- Trade with the EU and want to undertake customs training, even if you don’t intend on completing your own customs declarations
Find out how much you could claim…
What can I spend it on?
You must use the grant to help with customs declarations.
This means you can use the grant to cover the recruitment, salary and training of new and redeployed staff who will help with your customs declarations.
You could also use the grant to purchase the hardware or software needed to help with customs declarations. The grant can be used to reimburse these expenses if you paid for them after the 12th June 2020.
You cannot use the funding for unrelated hardware and software purchases.
The training must give you or your employees the skills to complete customs declarations or carry out customs processes, including safety and security training. The training does not have to lead to a formal qualification.
If you want internal training you can use the funding for the costs incurred, i.e. room hire and catering.
What happens after I’ve applied?
If your application is successful you will receive a grant offer letter.
You will then receive the funding costs for recruitment followed by 50% of the eligible salary costs once the grant offer is issued.
The remaining 50% of the salary costs will be paid when you have provided the new employee’s signed and dated contract, and their first payslip. You will need to claim for this within four months of your grant offer.
You will need to submit proof of how much you’ve spent on IT improvements or training within 2 months of getting the grant offer letter.
Kind regards Ilyas