Grants - fill your boots

[skyhuck]

The other big issue is that to qualify, you cannot place an order for kit until you have been approved. Then, you have to spend the full amount before you get the grant back.

 

There was some one on here who said they had put £150K of grant funding in there account and were looking at equipment to buy.

[Quickthorn]

I'm not sure if they enforce this for everyone, but another requirement I saw was that they wanted 3 years audited accounts,to go in with your application. A larger business or a company will probably have these, but if you're a small business, your accounts are going to be fairly simple, so you're more likely to be able to do your own. I know I do. So, if you've got to get your last 3 years accounts made up and audited, how much is that going to cost?

 

Last time I used an accountant, it cost £250 for a year's unaudited accounts, and that was 5 years ago. I'd suppose that for 3 years, that would be a grand..

[skyhuck]

I pay £2K per year.

 

And mine are NOT audited!!

[David Riding]

Searched hard on here for a post from bloke with 150k grant must be on here somewhere!!!

[John Barleycorn]

Seem to have stirred up something here.

 

I dont know about other regions, but I see they have opportunities such as "a new or existing forestry (contractors)" "Micro Enterprise" (employs less than 10 persons/less than 2 million euro turnover) Capital investment in equipment or buildings, Adding value/new products/woodfuel supply chain/improve efficiency/marketing.

3 years accounts, (or business plan), 3 quotes

 

Or for woodland owners "Improving economic value", "no minimum size"

 

I think that they are making a real effort to offload this grant money

[Mr Ed]

Renewablejohn got a match funded grant totaling £150k I think...

[John Barleycorn]

After giving us a talk (and free lunch) at the Weald Woodfair the FC took us out to see Nick Hilton of WoodWise Forestry and the tree harvester that he had just acquired with a FC grant

harvester

[Quickthorn]

I pay £2K per year.

 

And mine are NOT audited!!

 

Yeowww!!!

 

If it's going to cost me that much per year for a set of accounts, it'll cost me £6k...I might as well rip up the grant form now..I'm only putting in for 5 grand !!

[Rob D]

The other big issue is that to qualify, you cannot place an order for kit until you have been approved. Then, you have to spend the full amount before you get the grant back.

 

 

This is the problem and it can take 4 to 6 weeks to claim the money back as well. It's not like you buy the kit and then get a 40% refund 2 days later...

[Mr Ed]

which is laughable, as you want the grant because you cannot afford the kit in the first place.