Rural Business Investment Scheme Rural Development Programme 2014-20 The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.
What support is provided? Support is provided for capital investments in creation and development of non-agricultural activities in rural areas for all micro and small enterprises. A micro enterprise is an enterprise with less than 10 employees, a small enterprise is an enterprise with less than 50 employees. This might be either an activity which is new for an existing enterprise 1 (or an expansion of an existing activity leading to job creation) or a new business start up. Who can apply? Any rural micro or small business or social economy enterprise, limited to one application per call. What can I apply for? Capital grant for start up or expansion of rural business, including farm diversification and private tourism businesses. What are the pre-requisites at time of application? You must have a business plan. You must be recorded as having attended a funding workshop. You must have planning permission in place. You must provide evidence of match funding. You must be 18 years of age or over. Types of activity which might be supported; - Rural tourism, including some types of rural holiday accommodation, craft retail unit in front of a production unit, restaurants; - Construction, re-construction or establishment of workshops, factories, plants, premises and facilities for various activities such as repair of machinery; production and/or processing of non-agricultural goods and materials, plastics, sewage and refuse disposal, sanitation and similar activities; 1 An existing business operating continuously for a period of at least 1 Year prior to the date of application verifiable on presentation of annual business accounts.
- Social service provision including construction, re-construction and/or modernisation of premises and area for carrying out the activities (childcare, eldercare, healthcare, care for disabled people, educational farms, etc.); - Development of crafts and handicraft activities; - Investments in leisure, recreational and sport activities developed by private business or social economy enterprise as an economic activity, i.e. the business will be funded at the same intervention rate as private business (50%); - IT activities, computer-based and electronic activities, e-commerce, online warehouse, etc; - Provision of services e.g. Architectural and engineering activities, accounting, book keeping and auditing services, technical services, industrial cleaning, veterinary and animal welfare activities, etc; - Bespoke training associated with a capital item funded by LEADER; and - Marketing element which would include e-trading website development and information leaflets/ brochures. Costs that are not eligible for support; a) costs connected with the leasing contract, such as lessor s margin, interest refinancing costs, overheads and insurance charges or anything deemed to be a running cost; b) investments which are considered to have an unacceptable negative effect on the environment; c) replacement investments, i.e. like for like and maintenance costs for existing buildings, plant or equipment;
d) investments in new bed and breakfast or self catering accommodation or bedspace; e) lease-purchase of machinery and equipment; f) feasibility studies, purchase and installation of renewable energy technologies; g) the purchase of cars, vans, motorcycles, bicycles and any other form of personal transport (for whatever purpose); h) the purchase of vehicles for transportation (such as lorries, buses, vans, minibuses or any other kind of vehicle used to transport or move goods or people); i) tractors and agricultural machinery; j) expenditure incurred or work commenced/goods purchased before the letter of offer project start date or after the letter of offer project end date; k) payments for gifts and donations or personal entertainments (including alcohol); l) payments for activity of a political nature; m) statutory fines and penalties, criminal fines and damages; n) legal expenses in respect of litigation o) any cost associated with meeting a legislative or statutory requirement for the business; p) reclaimable VAT; q) improvements/refurbishment of residential property; and r) training, i.e. any training currently provided by a statutory body such as colleges, Invest Northern Ireland, Local Enterprise Agencies or other Council funded scheme.
Payments All grant payments will be made retrospectively by claim and no advances will be available. All projects must avail of a minimum of two phased payments and no more than five, these must be linked to tangible outputs on the Letter of Offer (LOO) schedule. The final 10% payment to all projects will paid upon satisfactory completion of the outputs of the project (as detailed in the LOO and no later than 12 months following the penultimate phased payment).
Grants levels available per application Activity New micro business Capital Grant. Existing micro enterprise Capital Grant. Existing Small Enterprise Capital Grant. Minimum Grant Maximum Grant 5,000. Up to 30,000. 5,000. Up to 50,000. 5,000. Up to 90,000. Level of support Up to 50% for the private sector and social economy enterprises. Up to 50% for the private sector and social economy enterprises. Up to 50% for the private sector and social economy enterprises. Available to all micro and small businesses Technical support and bespoke training. Marketing support web based. Marketing support non-web based. 500. Up to 5,000. 500. Up to 10,000. 500. Up to 5,000. Up to 50% for all applicants. Up to 50% for applicants. Up to 50% for all applicants. ISBN 978-1-84807-538-2 DMS: 15.16.034