If you run a small or medium-sized business, charity or social enterprise in Tees Valley (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees) you can apply for a free voucher worth up to £3,000 towards the fixed cost of getting your business better connected. The voucher is funded by government as part of the SuperFast Britain campaign to get more businesses and residents online.
The Connection Voucher will pay towards the fixed cost of getting you connected - between £100 and £3,000– and you pay the on-going line rental charge and any VAT charged. By upgrading your broadband connection you could benefit from:
- Increasing your profits by offering better services to more satisfied customers
- Improving your customers’ experience with quicker, communication and faster file-sharing thanks to higher upload and download speeds, especially for large files
- Reducing software and hardware costs by helping you switch to online data storage
- Enhancing the way you communicate and collaborate through online video conference and cloud-based information sharing
- Future-proofing your business with the latest technology to meet your customers’ needs
There is no minimum level of spend and you only need to obtain one quote, although you may want to talk to a number of suppliers to get the best deal for your business.
If you are part of a building or business park and know of neighbouring businesses who would like to access the scheme, you can pool your vouchers to obtain a better connection.
Eligibility criteria
The first step is to check that you meet the following criteria:
- You are a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME), Charity or Social Enterprise employing less than 249 people or volunteers
- Are located in the Tees Valley
- Are up to date with your payments of Business Rates to your local Authority
- Have a turnover of less than £41m / balance sheet less than £35m
- Have received less than £120k in public grants in the last 3 years
- Do not have a parent company or linked enterprise which does not meet the above.
- Your connection will cost more than £100
- You are willing to sign up for a minimum 6 month contract with your chosen supplier
- You can select a service that is capable of delivering 30Mbps or higher – there are some detailed requirements on speed that you should check before applying
- You are asking for a connection to your business premises. If your main work base is at home you can have a connection there, but not if you just work from home occasionally.
- You are not in one of the following sectors: fishery and aquaculture primary production, processing and marketing of agriculture products, coal, steel and shipbuilding.
How to apply:
The voucher scheme starts on 1st April 2015.
After 1st April you will need to complete a short application form which is available (along with FAQs, further information and a list of eligible suppliers) here
A list of eligible Tees Valley and North East suppliers can be found in the PDF below
(the administration of the scheme is run by Go Digital Newcastle on behalf of Tees Valley).
For further information, links and contacts please login / register.