Rising costs: 3 vital lifelines that every business should be prioritising

Energy price hikes, inflation, and a looming recession. The UK’s economic outlook has been bleak for a while now, and although things could be starting to look up as inflation rates ease, there are still likely to be tough times ahead for many businesses as we begin to head into winter.

When it comes to a strategy to survive the coming months, three things should be at the forefront of every business owner’s mind – and all three can result in some major cost savings.

 

1. Seek advice on reducing your business costs

Overheads can be daunting for businesses right now – especially in energy-intensive sectors where some businesses have seen their bills more than triple.

The new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, recently unveiled her energy plan but left little detail around support for businesses. 

If you’re a business owner, you can’t just wait for further detail on what the government plans to do. Instead, it’s time to act now and seek advice around lowering not only energy spend but overall business costs.

Tax relief specialist Access2Funding partners with Great Annual Savings, a business development service that specialises in reducing overheads. We’re assured that they can do something now for any business looking to reduce outgoings – even if you’re in a contract.

 

2. Consider grant funding

Do you, or someone on your product development team, have a cutting-edge idea for something new but require funding to make it happen? Whether you are at the feasibility, development of prototype, scale-up or deployment stage, there’s millions of pounds available to help UK businesses innovate and grow.

Grants are a sum of money awarded to a company in anticipation of it being applied for an agreed purpose. Currently, the government has grants available for businesses of all sizes and sectors – and you do not have to pay the money back.

The government wants to fund UK businesses that intend to bring to market innovative new technologies, products, processes, or services that will make the UK world-leading, as part of its Innovation Strategy. 

The first step is to identify the right grant funding, then see if you meet the eligibility criteria. Often there are very specific rules to adhere to so it’s best to gain the advice and support of a grant funding specialist.

Access2Funding has a team of experienced bid writers who not only identify the most suitable grant call for your business but write and submit all the paperwork required.

 

3. Claim back the tax you’re owed (and might not realise!)

There are various tax schemes from HMRC that benefit businesses in a big way – and often businesses don’t even realise they could be eligible for such tax schemes.

You might have heard of these tax relief schemes before but assumed you wouldn’t be eligible, or it would be too much work to claim. Luckily, Access2Funding take out any hard work and can establish eligibility after only around 1-2 hours of your time. We specialise in:

• R&D tax relief
• Patent box
• Land remediation relief
• Embedded capital allowances
• Grant funding.

How much could you get back?

• A Wingate-based civil engineering and groundworks business received more than £194,000 for its work carrying out high-quality groundworks and civils work across County Durham, Teesside and the North East.
• A manufacturer of beer serving tanks received more than £15,000 from its first R&D tax credits claim for the innovation demonstrated in its projects.
• A family-run engineering firm received a five-figure cash payment of R&D tax credits for its innovation, and will be launching a staff training and development programme and purchasing new equipment using the money received.
• Sportswear brand, GymPro Apparel, was able to claim back over £34,000 for developing their new line of products.

 

To explore the benefits of claiming tax relief as a way of funding business growth, or to enquire about innovation grant funding or reducing your business costs as mentioned in this article, please get in touch with Access2Funding