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Help to Grow: Digital: Business groups urge reform of new government scheme

14 February 2022

Busy London road with a view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Five business groups representing the digital, entrepreneurial, accountancy and small business sectors have come together to express their concerns about the effectiveness of the government’s new Help to Grow: Digital scheme, a programme designed to improve the adoption of digital technology by small businesses across the UK.

The five organisations – AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians), ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), Coadec, The Entrepreneurs Network and Forum of Private Business – represent hundreds of thousands of members who serve or are themselves small businesses.

They have collectively written to Business Ministers Paul Scully MP and Lord Callanan, expressing support for the scheme but also raising a number of concerns over its effectiveness.

Recommendations include:

  • Reducing the eligibility threshold from five employees to one.
  • Widening the range of providers and types of software available.
  • Widening the vendor cohort to include resellers and partner networks.
  • Increasing the range of costs the £5,000 of available funding can cover.

Sarah Beale, Chief Executive, AAT, said:

“We are all keen to see Help to Grow: Digital succeed so that small businesses, their customers and the UK economy benefit from much needed improvements in digital skills. However, if the scheme is to be successful, the restrictive eligibility criteria that excludes over 90% of small businesses must change, as must the limited nature of the type of software, number of software providers and the narrow definition of what costs are covered.”

View a copy of the joint letter.

Last month, AAT also wrote to Small Business Minister Paul Scully MP recommending that changes be made to the Help to Grow: Management scheme in order to boost uptake among the UK’s small business community.

For more information on AAT’s support for SMEs, please visit Informi – a free website launched by AAT and accessed by over 650,000 people and businesses last year alone – providing advice and guidance for the small business community.