The Northumberland Small Business Service will deliver a range of direct local support services and investment to drive a rebalancing of rural communities across Northumberland.  

From the dropdown, please select the area where you think your organisation could add the most value:

The Northumberland Small Business Service is committed to meeting the aims set out in our equality and diversity policy; to ensure equality and not discriminate against anyone under the Equality Act 2010. The information that you provide will remain confidential and stored securely. Please tick the most relevant box. 

Minimal financial assistance notification under Section 37 of The Subsidy Control Act 2022 – Northumberland Small Business Service  

Our organisation, Northumberland County Council, has been appointed to supply and deliver business support interventions on behalf of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.

Northumberland County Council considers that the financial assistance we are proposing to give you in respect of the above project, on their behalf, will be a subsidy for the purposes of section 2 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (“the Act”).  

Under the Minimal Financial Assistance (“MFA”) rules contained in section 36 of the Act, Northumberland County Council and other public authorities are allowed to award low value subsidies without needing to comply with the majority of the subsidy control requirements. MFA has a financial threshold so no organisation1 can receive more than £315,000 over the applicable period. The applicable period is:  

• The elapsed part of the current financial year (i.e., from 1 April 2023), and 
• the two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year

The £315,000 limit over this time period includes all MFA awards under the Act, but also: 

1. any previous subsidy your organisation has received which was provided under the 325,000 Special Drawing Rights allowance set out in Article 364 of Chapter 3 of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (“TCA”) 

and 

1. any previous de minimis State aid your organisation received under any of the EU Regulations2 listed in section 42(8)(c) of the Act;  

and 

1. any SPEI financial assistance awards under section 38 of the Act 

within the applicable period above. 

You must cumulate all of the above support together when assessing your organisation’s eligibility to receive MFA support. 

Please complete the Statement of Previous Aid received under the Minimal Financial Assistance provision, remembering to give consideration to any other business that your business may be linked with. Using this information we will assess your eligibility to receive assistance.

If you are in any doubt as to whether previous assistance received would constitute Minimal Financial Assistance please contact a member of the team.

Please download and complete this document with your information. If you have not received any aid during the applicable period, please mark this as £0. 

You will then need to re-upload this completed document on the next step.

• • I acknowledge that I am receiving business advice from the date below and that I will notify you as soon as possible of any changes to my personal information.
    
    
  • I recognise that this project is part funded by the The Northumberland Small Business Service is funded by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority’s through its Rural Growth Programme and Integrated Settlement.
    
    
  • I confirm that to the best of my knowledge the information given on this form is true and accurate and that I am authorised to represent this enterprise and understand the requirements of the Minimal Financial Assistance provision

   

  By registering onto the Northumberland Small Business Service Support Programme you are providing consent for your details to be processed and shared with Northumberland County Council and our delivery partners: 

  • North East Farm Business Support Service is delivered by Northumberland National Park Authority
  • Food & Drink Support Service is delivered by Food & Drink North East
  • Pre Start & Enterprise Support is delivered by North East Enterprise Agency Limited (NEEAL) who will then pass your details to an Enterprise Adviser contracted to and instructed by NEEAL.

   

  I also recognise that my personal and my company’s information may be shared with the UK Government and the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority as well as auditors carrying out any type of audit of the Northumberland Small Business Service.

  Details provided on this form are confidential and will not be used or shared for any purpose other than those already stated, and they will not be used to discriminate against me or the company I represent in any way.

   

  How we use your data

  We record information about all customers to enable us to provide you with the business support that you have registered for, to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible and to provide you with a high quality, accurate service.
  
  

  We keep records of all of our customers, which may be written down (manual record) or kept on a computer (electronic records).