The Government launched the Help to Grow: Management scheme in August 2021 with the aim to provide the leaders of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) with training to encourage growth, boost productivity and secure investment opportunities. More recently, the Government launched a second Help to Grow scheme (Help to Grow: Digital). What is the
The Government launched the Help to Grow: Management scheme in August 2021 with the aim to provide the leaders of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) with training to encourage growth, boost productivity and secure investment opportunities.
More recently, the Government launched a second Help to Grow scheme (Help to Grow: Digital).
What is the Help to Grow: Management Course?
The Help to Grow: Management course involves a £750 joining fee and comprises of training on leadership, marketing, employee engagement and financial management.
To be eligible for the course, businesses must be based in the UK and employ between 5 – 249 employees. One person from each business can attend the training and this person should be a senior decision maker within the business.
Additionally, businesses must have been operating for over a year and have at least one link of management in their structure.
Further restrictions on eligibility mean that charities are unable to enrol in the programme.
Initially, there aim was for 30,000 eligible SMEs to sign up for the programme. However, so far only 2,500 have enrolled.
The fact that the programme is not open to SMEs with less than 5 employees has been noted as a possible reason for the slow uptake of businesses participating.
The chief of external affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, Craig Beaumont, commented on this restriction, stating that it would exclude up to 90 per cent of SMEs in the UK.
Further criticism relates to the exclusion of charities, with the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) stating that 170,000 charities in the UK cannot participate.
If your business is eligible and you would like to sign up to the management scheme, courses until the end of March 2022 are currently open for registration here.
