Nearly two in five small and medium sized businesses are unaware of government grants and schemes designed to help them, research carried out by British challenger bank Aldermore has confirmed.
The study conducted amongst 300 SME firms throughout the country found that just over a third (35 per cent) are aware of government backed schemes but have not applied for any, with only 8 per cent of businesses saying they are planning to apply for a grant or finance scheme in the next 12 months.
George Ashworth, Managing Director of Aldermore Asset Finance, said: “There is clearly a big job to be done in helping ‘time poor’ business owners find out more about government backed schemes designed to help them grow their businesses.
“38 per cent of respondents told us they were unaware of how to find out about grants and schemes and a further 55 per cent said they were cynical about them, believing them to be government PR exercises or schemes designed to favour big businesses.”
Research undertaken by Experian (Sept 2012) also confirms that SMEs have a poor level of awareness of government grants and other sources of alternative funding, with just 6 per cent saying they would ask a broker for information.
Ashworth continues: “Our research confirms that two-thirds of business-owners turn to the internet as their primary source of information. There is plenty of scope for simplifying and clarifying information about government backed schemes and making this information available online to business owners.”
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