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Cherwell Business Adaptation Fund

Grants

Between £5,000 and £20,000

Status

Applications are CLOSED

What is the grant scheme?

OxLEP Business is leading the delivery of Cherwell District Council’s Cherwell Business Adaptation Fund (CBAF), which is funded through the Government’s Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) round two, which provides local councils with grant funding to support businesses impacted by Coronavirus restrictions.

We expect to support between 25 and 100 local businesses with grants for their projects, depending on the grant sizes requested by businesses who meet the eligibility criteria.

Business that applied needed to be based in Cherwell, and also have been in operation for at least one financial year.

Projects that businesses are looking to get funding for needed to deliver tangible outcomes aligned with at least one of the following:

  • increase sustainable job creation
  • increase R&D and product development
  • diversification into new business markets
  • increase exporting capacity (manufacturing, production and services)
  • de-risked/strengthened supply chains with a focus on UK supply chains
  • transition to trade globally including new EU requirements
  • successful transition of business operations to net zero carbon emissions and lower carbon footprint
  • enable the visitor economy to become more resilient post-pandemic

Full eligibility criteria was covered in our grant webinar on 10 May – you can watch our recordings at the bottom of this page, and in our guidance documents below.

Watch our explainer videos

You can watch an overview and breakdown of the various elements that make up the Cherwell Business Adaptation Fund.

Application details

Applying for this grant was a two-stage process. Stage 1, a pre-qualification questionnaire to check for eligibility, is NOW CLOSED.

Stage 2 is a full application which was required to be completed before 7 June.

A word from our Chief Executive

“The launch of the Cherwell Business Adaptation Fund is significant news for our business community in the north of the county and a welcome further line of support for eligible businesses at a critical time.

“Our impact, over the past two years in particular, has been positively received across the county. Between April 2020 and August last year, we engaged with 2,670 businesses across Oxfordshire – following the emergence of Coronavirus – and provided over 12,000 hours of support during the same period.

“Our experience in supporting businesses is second-to-none and we would therefore encourage Cherwell-based businesses to find out more about this new fund and discover if they are able to benefit from it.”

Nigel Tipple
Chief Executive, OxLEP

CBAF Guidance

Click/tap to download the guidance document.

CBAF Guidance

Click/tap to download the guidance document.

CBAF FAQs

Click/tap to download the FAQs.