Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund re-opened for short period

To help meet existing demand, the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) was doubled from £45m to £90m last week by the Scottish Government.

The fund has reopened for applications on Thursday 14 May but due to the expected high volume of applicants, it is likely that full capacity will be reached quickly with the anticipated closing date of 5pm on Monday 18 May.

PERF is aimed at SMEs who are vital to Scotland’s economy, those that make an impact on a local, regional or national level who have been made vulnerable due to the ongoing pandemic. To be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:

• Have up to 249 employees
• Have been trading successfully before the impact of COVD-19 and were not in financial difficulty before 31 December 2019
• Less than €50 million turnover or balance sheet total of €43 million
• Can demonstrate the funding will support business to be viable
• You are a Fair Work employer or working towards becoming a Fair Work employer
• You have a business bank account

To apply, you must make sure you have all the information needed to hand before starting your application. This includes:

• Business bank account statement that is less than three months old
• Companies House registration number if you are a registered business
• VAT registration number if you are registered for VAT
• Financial information – management or audited accounts
• 12-month cash flow projections
• Information of any other financial support including COVID-19 funding

You will also be expected to provide information on why you are pivotal to local, regional or national economies and how the grant will be used to sustain or expand trading.

Once your application has been reviewed, successful applicants will be notified, and they must formally accept within three working days. Money will then be paid 100% upfront. It is expected to take 10 working days from applying to receiving the funds.

With the closing date of Monday 18 May at the latest, please be quick in applying for the fund. You can find more information and a link to apply here.

If you need support with your application for this, or any other funding, please get in touch with your usual EQ contact or call one of our offices.