Switch on Shropshire regrets that the grant program is no longer available as the project is now complete.

If you would like more information about other grants or advice please contact Business Link West Mercia.
Tel: 0800 10 40 10
Email: enquiries@blwm.com


To have been eligible for Switch on Shropshire business funding the initial criteria was:

to be a Small to Medium Enterprise to have been in an eligible sector Your business must have been located in one or both of the following areas: - the Rural Regeneration Zone - the Objective 2 area the business must have been within the Shropshire borders and pay Shropshire rates To have been, or due to have become Broadband enabled.

• Once the above criteria was satisfied click here for the stage.

SME (Small to Medium Enterprise)

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are socially and economically important, since they represent 99% of all enterprises in the European Union (EU) and provide around 65 million jobs and contribute to entrepreneurship and innovation. However, they face particular difficulties which the EU and national legislation try to redress by granting various advantages to SMEs. A legally secure and user-friendly definition is necessary in order to avoid distortions in the Single Market.

• SME's, and Micro businesses with less than 10 employees, who met the criteria outlined in the de minimis rules – EC Regulation 69/2002, were eligible for support.

• Funding awarded had to be linked to the outputs of the programme. Companies accessing support agreed to supply the project with the relevant on request.

Enterprise Category	Headcount	Turnover	OR	Balance Sheet Total
medium-sized	< 250	< € 50 million*		< € 43 million*
small	< 50	< € 10 million*		< € 10 million*
micro	< 10	< € 2 million*		< € 2 million*

• Further details were available regarding SME's at the following website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/sme_definition

Footnote:

To qualify as an SME both the employee and the independence criteria must have been satisfied, ie either the Turnover or the Balance Sheet Total criteria was met. Independent enterprises were those who were not owned as to 25% or more of the capital, or the voting rights by one enterprise, or jointly by several enterprises, falling outside the definition of an SME or a small enterprise, whichever may of applied.
This threshold may have been exceeded in the following two instances:

• If any enterprise was held by public investment corporations, venture capital companies or institutional investors, provided no control was exercised either individually or jointly.

• If the capital was spread in such a way that it is was not possible to determine by whom it was held, and if the enterprise declared that it could legitimately presume that it was not owned as to 25% or more by one enterprise, or jointly by several enterprises, falling outside the definitions of an SME or a small enterprise, whichever may of applied.

Non-SME Definition

Maximum number of full time equivalent Group employees more than 249 but less than 400 employees or less than 10 employees Does not comply with the SME Turnover and the Balance sheet total criterion Maximum annual Turnover £32 million Maximum annual Balance Sheet Total £22 million Businesses applying for funding under this definition, de minimis rules were applied (see above).

Ineligible Sectors for Switch on Shropshire funding

The business sectors detailed below were not eligible for Switch on Shropshire funding:

Synthetic fibres; Textiles; Clothing; Motor vehicle manufacturing and first tier suppliers; Shipbuilding; Coal; Steel; Agriculture; Transport companies (road haulage, trains, bus companies, aviation); Support to banks; Insurance companies

Exchange Rate

• De minimis – The exchange rate for pound sterling to euro was calculated for one calendar year commencing 1st January and applied the year the grant application was approved. Exchange rate of 1 euro = 0.652 pound sterling for the year 1st January – 31st December 2003 – Official Journal 2002/C 1/ 02.

State Aid ( De minimis Rules)

Under EC Regulation 69/2002 financial support provided under European Funding to a Non SME is classed as de minimis aid. There is a ceiling of €100,000*, (approx. £62,500) for all de minimis aid provided to any one company over a rolling three year period. Any De minimis aid awarded under this contact would be relevant if applying for, or having had applied, for any other de minimis aid. This included aid from all public sources, which may have taken any of the following forms:

Grants from public bodies Loans from public bodies at favourable rates Loan guarantees from public bodies Differential tax benefits Grants from an investment trust (including charities) which may themselves have received the funds from a public body Grants from a part publicly funded venture capital fund Publicly administered funds, even if the funds were originally not public such as the waiving or deferral of rent or waiver of interest normally due on late payment of taxation or other costs to a public body Monopoly licences or guarantees of market share Advertising via a public channel such as a tourist board or state owned television Consultancy advice provided either free or at a reduced rate Training provided either free or at a reduced rate Aid for investment in environmental projects Provision of a free or reduced rate feasibility study for research and development or other assistance with research and development Purchase of public land or property at a less than market rate Benefiting from the provision of infrastructure where your organisation was pre-identified as a beneficiary

• *Exchange rates here

Any de minimis aid that was awarded under this project had to be declared. This included any future applications, or applications that had already been submitted.
For the purpose of the de minimis regulation, the documents had to retained for 3 years from the date of the contact and produced on any request by the UK public authorities or the European Commission. (The document may have needed to be kept for longer than 3 years for other purposes).

All of the above criteria has been met, what next?

This section covers, in a logical sequence the steps that were taken when planning to adopt Broadband with the help of Switch on Shropshire funding and Business Link advice.

1.	the business had been identified as a SME
2.	the business had been identified in an eligible sector
3.	the business had been identified in aeligiblele area as in one or both of the Objective 2, and/or the Rural Regeneration Zone
4.	the business is situated was within the Shropshire borders and paid Shropshire rates
5.	the business could be or was connected to an ADSL enabled exchange BT Exchange Enablement or visit www.bt.com/broadband
6.	Was the company's equipment capable of supporting broadband? Implementing Broadband Equipment checklist
7.	A registration form was completed stating that all of the above criteria was met.
8.	A Broadband Supplier was chosen Implementing Broadband Broadband Supplier
9.	A Grant form was Completed
10.	The Grant application was approved by the Grant Panel
11.	The company could now sign up for the Broadband Service
12.	The Broadband service was installed
13.	The impact of the Broadband was reviewed after 3 months

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