Eligible Areas
There are 2 types of areas eligible for SFI grant support in the
Northwest: Tier 2 Areas and Tier 3 Areas. Whether you are
eligible and the amount of grant you can apply for is determined by
which one of these areas your project is in.
The first thing to do is to follow the link below to the DTI’s
postcode checker to find out the ward area your project is
in. Type in the postcode of the location of your project, and
the checker will tell you whether or not it’s a Tier 2 area.
Please note that if the postcode checker says your project is not
part of the Assisted Areas in the English Regions, your project
location is in a Tier 3 area (see below for more details about Tier
3 areas).
DTI
Postcode Checker
Tier 2 Areas
Tier 2 Areas, also known as the Assisted Areas, are parts of the
English regions that have relatively low levels of economic
activity and high and persistent unemployment. This is often
the result of the decline in traditional manufacturing industries,
but they have the potential to benefit from new investment and
employment opportunities. In the Northwest we have a number
of Tier 2 areas, based on local authority wards. Companies of
any size can apply for grant support under the SFI scheme if they
are located or intend to locate in one of these ward areas.
The amount of grant you can apply for varies across the region, and
you can find more details out by using the postcode checker or
looking at the list of wards below.
Download a list
of Northwest wards that are eligible for Tier 2
assistance.
Tier 3 Areas
If your project isn’t in a Tier 2 area, it will be in a Tier 3
area, as the rest of the region has Tier 3 status. In Tier 3
areas there are restrictions on the size of business that we can
help with SFI funding. Only small and mediums sized
businesses can apply for SFI support. This means that if you
employ more than 250 people we can’t support your project with SFI
funding. This includes companies that might employ less than
250 people at a site in the Northwest, but are part of a larger
group of companies employing more than 250 people elsewhere, either
in the UK or the rest of the world.
Small companies that employ less than 50 people can apply for up
to 15% of the project costs as an SFI grant. Medium companies
that employ between 50 and 249 people can apply for up to 7.5% of
the projects costs as an SFI grant. This means that if you
are a small company you need to be spending at least £70,000 to
trigger our minimum grant of £10,000, and you need to be spending
in the region of £135,000 if you are a medium business.
Further Information
For further information, please contact: Andrew Bridge, SFI
Development Manager 01925 400227 andrew.bridge@nwda.co.uk.