Capital grants from £1,000 up to £49,999 with an average award of around £15,000 are being made available to rural micro and small businesses in Cumbria to support the purchase of new equipment and small-scale capital improvements to help businesses to grow, startup, diversify, innovate and improve productivity. Grants can cover up to 80% of the cost of your project, up to the maximum grant limit with a total grant pot of £1,000,000 available and 65 grants being awarded. Please note that although the maximum match funding is 80%, applications should be for the percentage needed to enable the project to happen, which is likely to be considerably lower.

Specifically, grant funding aims to:

• Support businesses to overcome the challenges facing them and respond positively to opportunities, for example by providing funding to support cost reductions, productivity enhancements and growth
• Grow businesses: grants help rural businesses invest in equipment, facilities, or technology, increasing productivity, turnover and resilience
• Create jobs: capital funding will in turn support new hires and apprenticeships, reducing local economic inactivity
• Diversify the rural economy: encourage non-traditional enterprises, visitor economy, creative industries, and agri-businesses, making rural economies more resilient and impactful
• Support new startups: encourage new businesses to start and recently formed businesses to grow through derisking early-stage capital investment
• Attract investment: successful grant-funded projects will leverage additional private or public investment

Applications which deliver against a range of these aims are more likely to be successful – for example an investment in machinery which increases productivity, creates jobs and involves private spend above the 20% level is likely to be a more attractive proposition than pure purchase of solar panels outside a wider growth project and which delivers costs savings only.

Delivery runs until 31st March 2027. Grant spend must be completed and claimed by 26th February 2027 at the latest.

The first stage is to complete an expression of interest. The deadline for submission for consideration at the first panel is 12noon on Monday 22nd June 2026 - early submission is preferable, you don’t need to wait until the deadline to submit.

All fully completed paperwork must be submitted to info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk with the subject header – Capital grant scheme expression of interest – an acknowledgement email will be sent on receipt of your submitted paperwork. Download the registration form and subsidy control declaration here.

You can read more details in the guidance notes here.  For any queries contact Paula Martyn-Jones at paula@cumbriachamber.co.uk

The grant panel will meet on Tuesday 14th July with decisions sent out that week. Those invited to full application will receive the required paperwork and be offered support from a business adviser. We will also be hosting a webinar to go over common issues/mistakes to ensure your application has the best possible chance of being successful.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce is running the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Grants scheme on behalf of Westmorland and Furness and Cumberland councils. Funding for this project has been made available by the UK Government from the Cumbria Capital Programme, a £10m package of capital funding for local growth investment to invest in projects that support place-based economic regeneration across the area. This funding has been secured by the Cumbria Combined Authority, with Westmorland and Furness Council and Cumberland Council providing additional funding and support for the scheme.