'FIRST SERVICES' START-UP GRANT FOR BARNSLEY

Start-up businesses in Barnsley have been given a boost by Barnsley Development Agency's Community Economic Regeneration Team (CERT), who have secured a business development fund of £300k to promote enterprise in disadvantaged areas and communities.

First Services, as the Barnsley initiative will be known, will establish an Intermediary services enterprise to stimulate the social economy and contribute to Barnsley's overall regeneration, by encouraging people to start their own businesses.

Janet Bibby, Team Leader for CERT, said; "This money will be used locally in Barnsley and will specifically target small start-up businesses that might otherwise not get off the ground. The enterprise will help local unemployed and inactive people get back into work, and also assist a large number of small businesses to employ and train staff in areas like customer service, PAYE and NI administration, through our support schemes like Job Rotation."

The Barnsley award is part of a £15 million national initiative supporting organisations around the country via The Phoenix Fund, managed by the national Small Business Service (SBS).

Janet Bibby continued: “The Phoenix Fund was established to encourage and stimulate enterprise and business creation in disadvantaged areas and particularly amongst people that might not have previously considered starting in business.

"Barnsley currently creates a gross domestic product (GDP) of only 66% of the national average, and the emergence and success of business start-ups is one key area that can start to have a positive effect on that depressing statistic. Wealth creation by small businesses leads to larger businesses and more local jobs, so we need to foster an environment in which everyone feels that there is the opportunity for them to start and succeed in business. The Phoenix Development Fund grant will help us to do that, and we're incredibly excited about the award which will help create opportunities for Barnsley's business success stories of the future."

Barnsley First Services will eventually employ 8 people - 3 full time key workers (1 enterprise co-ordinator, 1 job rotation co-ordinator, and 1 Business Angels co-ordinator) and five clerical/administration staff taken from the local ILM pool. The project is scheduled to start in May, and it is anticipated that over time it will become a sustainable enterprise in its own right.

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