Growth Hubs & Councils can support your business

Encouraging growth, helping local businesses, providing advice and support

GROWTH HUBS DESIGNED TO HELP

Designed to get the private sector involved in local business support

JOINED-UP BUSINESS SUPPORT

Bringing the public and private sectors together

FIND YOUR LOCAL GROWTH HUB

Find out how your local growth hub can help your business

UPDATE: The Role of Local Enterprise Partnerships is changing

 
The role and nature of what Local Enterprise Partnerships should do has been up for debate for a while. The recent publication of the Levelling Up White Paper (a link to the Executive Summary can be found below)  sets out a new framework about how to deliver levelled up assistance and growth across the country. 

In the UK, there is a fragmented system of local governance, with different councils and partnerships having different responsibilities, leading to administrative complexity.

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been successful in bringing together businesses and leaders for economic growth, but the UK government is encouraging integration of LEPs into devolution plans.

Where a devolution deal does not yet exist, LEPs will continue to play their vital role in supporting local businesses and the local economy. LEPs that fall within devolution deals will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with further details to be provided in writing to LEPs.

References:
Integrating Local Enterprise Partnerships into local democratic institutions - Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (31 March 2022) 13 pages
Levelling Up the United Kingdom: Executive Summary - UK Government (February 2022) 17 pages
Levelling Up the United Kingdom - UK Government (February 2022) N.B. 332 pages
LEP report - a unique partnership for economic growth, September 2022

LEPs have set out a response to the government's drive for local growth

" LEPs have helped government deal with some of the biggest economic shocks of recent times, supporting local businesses and start-ups through economic upheavals, and ensuring their sustainability from the pandemic and industrial closures to Brexit and now the cost-of-living crisis. Bringing critical partners together around a common goal at the local level, LEPs offer government an unrivalled partnership of local delivery and business support and investment to bolster economic growth at pace. "

Read the report here
Until these changes come in to effect, Growth Hubs remain one of the best sources of guidance, information and sign posting to comprehensive business support.
Like the Growth Hubs and Local Councils, BizEquals wants to help join local and national business support together, across both the public and private sectors.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF or the Fund) is a central pillar of the UK government’s ambitious Levelling Up agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. It provides £2.6 billion of new funding for local investment by March 2025, with all areas of the UK receiving an allocation from the Fund via a funding formula rather than a competition. It will help places right across the country deliver enhanced outcomes and recognises that even the most affluent parts of the UK contain pockets of deprivation and need support.

It is designed to reduce bureaucracy and allow local decision making to better target the funds towards local priorities.

The Fund’s interventions will be planned and delivered by councils and mayoral authorities across England, Scotland and Wales – ‘lead local authorities’, working closely with local partners and the Scottish and Welsh governments.

In Scotland and Wales we want to use existing strategic geographies and local authorities to draw on the insight and expertise of local partners, including businesses, the voluntary sector and Members of Parliament to target interventions where most appropriate.

In Northern Ireland, UK government will have oversight of the Fund. We want to work closely with local partners to design a Northern Ireland investment plan. We will refine the plan in consultation with stakeholders in a way that reflects the needs of Northern Ireland’s economy and society. This group could include representatives from Northern Ireland Executive Departments, local authorities, businesses and the community and voluntary sector.

What are Local Enterprise Partnerships and their Growth Hubs?

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) were set up in 2010 and were designed to get the private sector's expertise involved in local economic decision-making. The government's assessment was that local places understood both their local economy and their economic needs far better than central government.

The LEPs were defined as “joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote local economic development”.

Their predecessors, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) were replaced as the existing local and regional boundaries they were based on often had little real relationship to economic reality on the ground. Their 'mission' was to “provide the clear vision and strategic leadership to drive sustainable private sector-led growth and job creation in their area."

Growth hubs provide business support

In order to meet the aim of providing better, more 'joined-up' business support, LEPs set up Growth Hubs, designed to help improve the coordination and delivery of business support.

With a broad-based recognition that the business support landscape can be complex and difficult to access, one of the functions of growth hubs is acting as a sign-post for businesses to the appropriate support services.

Growth Hubs employ different business models involving a wide-range of partners to deliver the support. They have developed according to local needs and the capabilities of local partners such as local authorities, Chambers of Commerce and other public and private sector organisations.

The Devolved Governments

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own national business support agencies. Explore what the other home nations do to help their businesses.

Scottish Enterprise

Business Wales

N. Ireland Business Info

FIND YOUR LOCAL GROWTH HUB

See what support is available locally
Find your local Growth Hub

What is the key purpose of Growth Hubs?

Signposting

Signposting

Rather than providing detailed advice themselves, they signpost companies to the right resource.

Public & Private

Public & Private

Bringing together the public and private sectors in a coordinated manner to create a one-stop shop for advice and support.

The Right Advice

The Right Advice

Using their expertise to understand your business and ensure you get the right advice you need to help you grow and be more productive.

Find An Event

Find An Event

Coordinating a wide variety of events covering a range of advice covering topics such as types of finance, marketing and digital skills.

Business Engagement with Growth Hubs

>£9bn

Local Growth funding

>£7.5bn

additional private investment

> 1million

businesses engaged through Growth Hubs

> 180k

jobs created

as at 30 September 2019

Manchester town hall

Manchester Town Hall

What role does local government play?

Local government (county/district/borough/city/unitary councils) is responsible for providing a wide range of services for people and businesses within a defined area.

One of their key responsibilities is the fostering of local economic growth, using local people and local knowledge best suited to understand and respond to local needs. The current economic environment is challenging, as previous problems of insufficient digital infrastructure and inadequate skills to meet local employer demands have been exacerbated by the Covid crisis and the current economic uncertainty.

Find your local growth hub

Black Country Growth Hub

Black Country Growth Hub

Black Country Growth Hub provides free and impartial support to businesses and entrepreneurs of any size, sector or status across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Cheshire & Warrington Growth Hub

Cheshire & Warrington Growth Hub

If your businesses is based in Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester or Warrington, we offer a range of support whether you are an individual on your journey to starting a business, an existing business looking to grow and expand, or an organisation looking to build a base in Cheshire and Warrington.

Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub

Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub

We’re your single gateway to navigating the best private and public sector business support available. We’re your foot in the door, your insider knowledge, your expert resource. We’re in your corner.

Dorset Gateway

Dorset Gateway

Dorset Gateway is Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership’s growth hub. We’re here to help businesses across Dorset find the right advice, support and funding to enable them to grow and prosper.

We're funded to provide these services by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, so they're free to any Dorset based businesses seeking help.

Greater Birmingham & Solihull Growth Hub

Greater Birmingham & Solihull Growth Hub

The Growth Hub is the home for advice, guidance and funding for businesses and entrepreneurs across the Greater Birmingham area.

Heart of the South West (HotSW) Growth Hub

Heart of the South West (HotSW) Growth Hub

The Heart of the South West Growth Hub provides independent diagnosis and referrals to existing business support services. We are the first point of contact for businesses in the Heart of the South West LEP area wishing to develop and grow. 

Boost

Boost

Boost is Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub. Our purpose is to help Lancashire’s businesses grow.

Whether you’re a start-up, large business or somewhere in between, Boost can help get you the right growth support. We provide funded growth programmes as well as helping businesses navigate the best private and public sector business support available.

Growth Platform - Liverpool City Region

Growth Platform - Liverpool City Region

Growth Platform is Liverpool City Region’s economic enabler, designed to support people and businesses to realise their potential and generate growth.

Our role is to strengthen and simplify our regional landscape, creating a sustainable economy that reflects the needs of all our business community across Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.

North East Growth Hub

North East Growth Hub

The North East Growth Hub is a crucial part of the LEP's Business Growth strategy. Business growth and access to finance are key drivers for more and better jobs. They are necessities in addressing market failures to support stronger indigenous businesses to drive up GVA and employment. 

Solent LEP Growth Hub

Solent LEP Growth Hub

The Solent LEP Growth Hub is a FREE service and act as a first point of contact for all your business support related queries. Our aim is to simplify your route in accessing the business support that you require, allowing you to concentrate on your Business.

Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub

Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub

The Growth Hub was established by the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership to play a major role in the drive for strong, sustainable business growth across the LEP area.

It acts as the focal point for businesses that wish to grow by referring them to co-ordinated and cohesive growth programmes, business networks, growth groups and links to specialist information, advice and services.

Berkshire Growth Hub

Berkshire Growth Hub

Free Business Advice and Support for Berkshire Businesses
At the Berkshire Growth Hub, we offer impartial business advice, specialist support programmes and a range of events for businesses in Berkshire—all free of charge. Whether you are an established business with ambitious growth plans, a new start-up, a scale-up company or an entrepreneur looking to turn your ideas into a business, we can help.

Worcestershire Growth Hub

Worcestershire Growth Hub

Worcestershire Growth Hub, often referred to as Worcestershire Business Central, are here to support your organisation across a range of topics and no matter the size of your business.

Buckinghamshire Business First

Buckinghamshire Business First

We are a business-led, business-focused community for new, established and growing businesses across Buckinghamshire.

Coast to Capital Growth Hub

Coast to Capital Growth Hub

The Coast to Capital Growth Hub provides free and impartial government funded business support in Greater Brighton, West Sussex, East Surrey and Croydon which can help your ambitious and innovative business achieve growth.

The BUSINESS Hub Cumbria

The BUSINESS Hub Cumbria

Working across Cumbria, our free and impartial support is delivered by expert business advisers, giving you the right advice at the right time for your business.

As part of the national Growth Hub network, we’re here to help you find the best advice, funding or events to turn your growth aspirations into a reality.

Enterprise M3 Growth Hub

Enterprise M3 Growth Hub

Aimed at businesses looking to succeed in the Enterprise M3 area, the Enterprise M3 Growth Hub is an expert advice and resource network which helps businesses achieve results quickly through a free personal, tailored service focused on Growth.

Business Lincolnshire

Business Lincolnshire

Business Lincolnshire is set up to help support Greater Lincolnshire based businesses to start and grow. Business Lincolnshire hosts a Growth Hub – a single place to go to for business experts and mentors, support and guidance, grants and finance.

Hertfordshire Growth Hub

Hertfordshire Growth Hub

At the Hertfordshire Growth Hub we help established businesses with real potential for growth to access the support they need to achieve even more. Our business advisers are Industry experts, ready to work with you to diagnose exactly what your business needs and help you make it happen.

Leeds City Region

Leeds City Region

If you’re a small to medium sized business based in Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield or York, we can guide you through the complex work of business support.

London Business Hub

London Business Hub

We know that no two businesses are the same, so why should the same advice be for everyone?

We’re free and impartial, with decades of collective experience. As part of the national Growth Hub network, we’re here to help you find the best possible solutions to your problems. No matter what stage your business is at.

Oxfordshire Growth Hub

Oxfordshire Growth Hub

As the growth hub for Oxfordshire, it is our aim to simplify the business support landscape and help individuals and businesses to easily connect.

We're here to help small businesses (SMEs) find the support they need. We offer prompt, friendly, impartial advice and will signpost you to the right business support for you and your business by directing you to expert advice and national and local support programmes.

South East Business Hub

South East Business Hub

The South East Business Hub is here to help your business on the path to growth and prosperity.

Through this portal you can access bespoke business support in your local area. Businesses in East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock can find information, advice, and access to finance.

Swindon & Wiltshire Growth Hub

Swindon & Wiltshire Growth Hub

The Growth Hub is an exciting new online community developed exclusively for the businesses of Swindon and Wiltshire.

The Hub directs you to a wide range of impartial business support and advice, as well as providing valuable insights, access to events, specialist programmes and funding to help your business thrive.

The Marches Growth Hub

The Marches Growth Hub

The Marches Growth Hub offers a single point of access to information and guidance on business grants, loans, support and advice available to enterprises across the region, regardless of sector or size of development.

York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub

York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub

Whether your business is starting, growing or scaling, we can help.
As the Growth Hub for York and North Yorkshire, we enable businesses of every size and sector to access what they need to drive success and manage growth.
By its very geography, York and North Yorkshire is home to a diverse range of businesses. Regardless of size or sector, we are here to provide free and impartial business support. We are government-funded but locally based, which means that we can provide tailored support based around the needs of our unique region.

CPCA Growth Hub

CPCA Growth Hub

The CPCA Growth Hub is funded by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority and is here to connect your business to the help, support, information and funding that you need to thrive and grow.

Cornwall & Isles of scilly

Cornwall & Isles of scilly

We work with local businesses, including self employed people and not for profit organisations to find the right guidance and support to help their business work smarter, develop and grow.

The D2N2 Growth Hub

The D2N2 Growth Hub

D2N2 Growth Hub provides businesses in Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire with a single point of access to business support. Our team of Growth Hub Business Advisers and our dedicated telephone enquiry service have the knowledge, skills and expertise to signpost you to the right initiatives and resources to support your business growth.

Gloucestershire Growth Hub

Gloucestershire Growth Hub

The Growth Hub is here to help your business maximise its potential.

Whether it's sourcing funding, developing your team or breaking into new markets; our experts are on-hand to consult, connect and collaborate.

Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub

Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub

We support businesses at all stages of their growth journey with our broad range of services. We offer expert one-to-one and peer-to-peer business support, events, specialist programmes, funding and much more.

Hull and East Yorkshire Business Growth Hub

Hull and East Yorkshire Business Growth Hub

The Growth Hub covers the whole of the Hull and East Yorkshire region, which includes the city of Kingston-upon-Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. To make sure that we can support businesses across all parts of this region, our advisors are employed by – and based with – the two regional local authorities: Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Leicester & Leicestershire Business Gateway (Growth Hub)

Leicester & Leicestershire Business Gateway (Growth Hub)

The Growth Hub is a single place to access business support across Leicester and Leicestershire. We offer free and impartial advice to help all local businesses, with a particular focus on those who are looking to grow and increase productivity. 

New Anglia Growth Hub

New Anglia Growth Hub

New Anglia Growth Hub can help your business access a range of business support services from hundreds of sources. The hub’s service is FREE and IMPARTIAL and can help you access grants, finance, start-up support, international trade support and other specialist advice from single point of contact.

South Yorkshire Growth Hub

South Yorkshire Growth Hub

South Yorkshire Growth Hub aims to be the single point of contact for all business support across our region.

It aims to simplify all the regional and national business support that is available to businesses, so that you as a business owner/manager always know where to go to find the right support. Our experienced teams can provide direct support and also advise and signpost to the most appropriate support based on your business needs.

SEMLEP's Growth Hub

SEMLEP's Growth Hub

SEMLEP’s Growth Hub is here to help local businesses realise their ambitions through free impartial information, advice and guidance. We have expert knowledge of the national and local business support available. Using this, we support small to medium businesses with different aspects of running a business, from finance to innovation to marketing and so much more.

Tees Valley Business

Tees Valley Business

Get Support For Your Business
We can help you to start, grow or access funding and finance.

As the Local Growth Hub for the Tees Valley, we are here to help ambitious SME businesses and budding entrepreneurs in Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees get the support they need to grow.

West of England Growth Hub

West of England Growth Hub

The West of England Growth Hub supports businesses throughout Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire to innovate, grow and thrive. We achieve this by connecting businesses to support streams and encouraging collaboration.

Growth Hub Twitter Feed