Eligibility

Thank you for your interest in the ERDF Launchpad 2 – Tailored Business Support Programme 

This is an EU Funded Programme which is being delivered by Enterprise Support Alliance Ltd.

As the programme is publicly funded and free to attend it comes with some eligibility criteria.

Your business needs to be:

Located in the East Herts Council area, Stevenage and Stansted

You may still be eligible if your business is registered outside of this area if you have a location in one of these areas.
The main area that East Herts Council covers is: Hertford, Bishops Stortford, Ware, Buntingford and Sawbridgeworth. However Businesses in Stevenage and those located at Stansted Airport are also eligible for the programme.

Employ less than 250 employees in total

A Social Enterprise, or operating in one of the following sectors or their supply chain
- Aerospace
- Maintenance, Repairs & Operational support for Stansted Airport (MRO’s)
- Creative and Digital (Including TV and film)
- Bioscience
- Life Sciences
- Manufacturing
- Bio-tech (cell and gene therapies)
- Modern methods of construction

Your business may be eligible if you supply to, or deal with companies in one of the above sectors. If you are unsure please contact us to check launchpad2@enterprisesupportalliance.com

Have a turnover less than €50 million

Have a balance Sheet less than €43 million

Not have had State Aid of €200,000 or more in the last 3 fiscal years

Completing the application

If your business is eligible, you just need to fill in an online application form.

This should take less than 10 minutes, but don’t worry if you have a query as we are here to help.

We recommend that you use a PC, laptop or tablet to complete the form.

To save time when completing the form you may find it helpful to have the following information at hand as applicable:

  • When your business started
  • The number of staff you employ (Full Time Equivalent) employees
  • Any staff ‘at risk’ of being made redundant
  • Balance Sheet Total (you will find this on your last financial accounts)
  • Company Turnover in last complete financial year (again on your last financial accounts)
  • Any spend you have made in the last financial year on Research & Development (R&D)
  • VAT Number, if applicable
  • Any Product & Process Innovations you have introduced in the last 3 years
  • Any businesses which are connected through shared ownership/shareholdings.

Before submitting your application you should read our Privacy Policy.

Once you have submitted the form we will email confirmation of receipt from our launchpad2@enterprisesupportalliance.com email address.

We will then contact you to confirm that your business is eligible and discuss with you how the programme will help you take your business forward.

If you have an issue with filling in the application form send an email to launchpad2@enterprisesupportalliance.com with your phone number and we will call you as soon as we can.

Check for other support that may be available via your local Growth Hub

PRIVACY POLICY

ERDF Launchpad 2 Project Privacy Notice

 

This privacy notice tells you how East Hertfordshire District Council (“the council”) uses your personal information in connection with a three year funded project to support businesses through either a small capital grant or 12 hour specialised workshops and to provide hot desking facilities to businesses in East Herts through the council’s Launchpad facilities. 

 

The type of personal information we collect

We currently collect and process the following information:

  • Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details)
  • Record of business – Name, address including post code, contact details, company registration number (CRNs) if applicable.
  • Record of 12 hours spent receiving support, either on 1:1 basis, or workshop registers
  • Financial records for those businesses receiving grants – copies of bank statements to demonstrate defrayed costs, as well as invoices and receipts
  • State Aid information from businesses (details  that will confirm the value of state aid support received prior to the project)     
  • For businesses using private sources of income as match funding details on the private funds must include: name, address, contact details, status of organisation or individual and the organisation/business they represent. Financial information such as invoices and receipts will also be collected
  • Written confirmation from senior members of staff in the supported business confirming the overall increase in employment levels within the business as a result of the support provided. This should include confirmation of the baseline and end figures and specific details of the jobs created resulting in the increase.
  • A sole trader will need to provide a self-declaration to confirm details of post started, salary, duration and number of hours per week.
  • Data on individuals employed needs to include: gender, age, disability and ethnicity
  • New products – where businesses are bringing a new product to market or a new product to their business they must provide a self-declaration to confirm the product, process or service is new to the market. The business should also confirm the date the new product/process/service was launched and provide further documentation to confirm details of product/process/service, which could include marketing information or literature. If product has not progressed to market, the business should provide information on the status of the product. 
  • Salary and payroll details for staff

 

How we get the personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

  • To carry out our three year funded project to support you as a local business.

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

  • Some checks will be made on businesses applying for support, such as ownership, set up dates and financial data all in the public domain via Companies House

We may share this information with the Managing Authority of EU funding, which in this case is MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) to support quarterly claims; and the project contractor Deyton Bel Ltd, who will act as joint controller in processing your data on our behalf.  Deyton Bell Ltd is responsible for engaging with businesses across East Herts and providing workshop activities and supporting small grant applications.  There will be an independent project assessment at the end of the project that may require the council to share information with a third party independent evaluator.

Our lawful bases for processing your data

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting Launchpad2@deytonbell.com

The service that we provide through this programme include Information, Diagnostic and Development support, small capital grants and 12 hour support through workshops or mentoring support

Additionally, where we process special category data on individuals employed through this funding which includes gender, age, disability and ethnicity, we do so using explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) UK GDPR). You can remove your consent for processing special category data by contacting Launchpad2@deytonbell.com or the council’s Data Protection Officer through the contact details in ‘Our contact details’ below. 

 

Transfer of your data to any country or organisation outside of the UK

The European Regional Development Fund finances the Launchpad 2 project to provide financial and non-financial support to a combination of social enterprises, Maintenance, Repairs & Operations sector for Stansted airport and the bioscience sector.   Information from this project may be shared with the European Commission on request.

Automated decision-making and profiling

During our processing of your information, it will not be subject to automated decision-making or profiling.

How we store your personal information

Please see the Corporate Privacy Notice

How long we keep your information

We will retain your data for a period of two years after the funder (MHCLG) submits the last claim to the European Commission. The funder will notify us as to when the two year period will commence, and after this period your data will be securely destroyed in line with our Retention Schedule.

Your data protection rights

Please see the Corporate Privacy Notice

Our contact details

Please see the Corporate Privacy Notice

How to complain

Please see the Corporate Privacy Notice