Food & Drink Support

Delivered in partnership with Food and Drink North East, this tailored support is designed to help Northumberland’s food and drink businesses grow and succeed.

Through the Northumberland Small Business Service (NSBS), eligible businesses can access specialist advice and guidance tailored to the unique opportunities and challenges within the food and drink sector.

Trading Business - Register Now

Support specifically designed for the Food & Drink sector

From primary producers, food businesses, hospitality firms, to rural residents, who will benefit through job creation, innovation, and stronger local food and drink supply chains, ensuring a resilient food economy for the North East.

Support includes:
• Business growth and development planning
• Routes to market and retail opportunities
• Branding, marketing and product positioning
• Supply chain and collaboration opportunities
• Scaling production and improving efficiency
• Advice and signposting on finance, investment and funding options where appropriate to support business growth.

Whether you’re a producer, manufacturer, or food and drink entrepreneur, this tailored support will help you strengthen your business, reach new markets, and unlock growth opportunities.

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Check your eligibilty

1. Are you, or is your business, located within Northumberland?^*

Yes

Clear selection

2. Select business status:^*

Pre-Start Business

New business (within 12 months of trading)

Established Business

Farm Enterprise

Clear selection

Pre-start business

1. Are you aged at least 16 or over?^*

Yes

Clear selection

New business

1. Did you start your business in the last 12 months?^*

Yes

No - please return to the start and select "Established Business"

Clear selection

1. How many "Full Time Employees" does your business employ?^*

1 to 49

50+

Clear selection

2. Is your businesses Annual Turnover less than £10m^*

Yes

Clear selection

APPLY NOW

NSBS Registration Form (Trading Business, Farm Enterprise)

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Step 10

Client Registration and Declaration

The North East Rural Growth Programme, delivering as Northumberland Small Business Service, is funded by the North East Combined Authority, with Northumberland County Council as lead Delivery Partner supported by Durham County Council, Gateshead Council, Northumberland National Park Authority, Food and Drink North East Limited and North East Enterprise Agency.

On registering to the programme, you will be contacted by a Rural Business Adviser who will then work with you to access the most suitable support for you based on your business needs.

Business & Contact Details

Business Status

Trading Business

Farm Enterprise

Business Name

If you do not have a business name, please use your FULL NAME

Title

First Name

Last Name

Position in company

Address

Street

City / Town / Village

County

Post Code

Contact Phone number

Website

If your organisation does not have a website, leave this field blank.

Please can you tell us about the nature of your business:

Which sector does your organisation operate in?

How would you describe the legal status of your business?

Is the majority of your customer based Business to Business (B2B)?

Yes

If at least 51% of customers are a business, then you are classified as Business to Business.

Is the majority of your customer based Business to Consumer (B2C)?

Yes

If at least 51% of customers are individual customers, then you are classified as Business to Customer.

Companies House Registration Number / Unique Tax Reference Number / Registered Charity Number

If you are a sole trader, you are likely to have a unique tax reference. If you are a limited company, you are likely to have a Companies House reference number. Please provide the most appropriate of these three options for your organisation. If you do not have this available to you, please enter 0 and a member of the team will be in touch with you when processing your application.

Date of incorporation/start of trading

Single Business Identifier (SBI)

Check this is 9-digits only

Holding Number (CPH)

please type in this format xx/xxx/xxx

Holding Size

Please detail the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees working within your organisation:

An FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to a full-time worker. 36 hours a week is considered full-time. An employee who works 18 hours a week is considered 0.5 FTE. Your FTE calculation should include paid and voluntary staff. You FTE calculation should be representative of your current circumstances whilst completing this form – we understand that if you work in a seasonal sector, this may fluctuate. Please provide this detail to the best of your ability and a member of the team will be in touch if we have any queries when processing your application.

Please detail the Annual Turnover (£) of the organisation within the last financial year:

The financial year will be determined by the accounting period of the individual organisation. Please note that we may request a copy of the most recent accounts to verify this information. If this is required, a member of the project team will contact you directly following submission of this form. If the organisation has only started trading in the last 12 months, please enter £0.

Linked Enterprises

Is your organisation part of a larger group, or owned by a parent company?

Yes

Name of Group / Parent Company

Group/parent company annual turnover (£)

Total Number of employees in group / parent company

How did you hear about us?

Are you already in contact with the Northumberland National Park Authority or Food & Drink North East with regards to the Northumberland Small Business Service programme?

Yes

What is your area of interest?

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:

Select Your Area Of Interest

Equality and Diversity Monitoring

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.

Gender

Male

Female

Non-binary

Prefer not to say

Age

16-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65+

Prefer not to say

Do you consider yourself to have a disability or health condition?

Yes

Prefer not to say

Ethnicity: Ethnic origin is not about nationality, place of birth or citizenship. It is about the group to which you perceive you belong.

Subsidy Control Declaration

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:

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

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

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.

DOWNLOAD FORM

Upload your completed Subsidy Control Declaration document here:

Choose File

If you forgot to download the form on the previous step, click here to download again

Section 4 - Client Declaration

- 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).

Please confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to all of the statements outlined above.

Yes I confirm

Date of registration

Food & Drink Support

Support specifically designed for the Food & Drink sector

.

Check your eligibilty

APPLY NOW

Client Registration and Declaration

Business & Contact Details

Linked Enterprises

What is your area of interest?

Equality and Diversity Monitoring

Subsidy Control Declaration

DOWNLOAD FORM

Section 4 - Client Declaration

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