Crime Prevention Fund
Guidelines & Criteria
Has your business been a victim of crime or are you seeking preventative measures against crime?
The Crime Prevention Fund can contribute up to £2000 towards physical or e-commerce security for qualifying companies located in South Yorkshire.
The Crime Prevention Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund through its Objective 1 programme and Yorkshire Forward, South Yorkshire's Regional Development Agency.
It can supply a percentage of funding to purchase either physical security products such as CCTV or perimeter fencing, or e-security products like firewalls etc.
The objective for providing financial assistance is to enable small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase productivity by reducing the economic impact of physical or electronic crime.
What will it fund
- Grants may be available to support crime prevention measures to help make businesses more secure.
- Funding may be used to contribute to the purchase of physical security measures (e.g. fencing, CCTV etc) or e-commerce security measures (e.g. software, firewalls etc)
How much is the grant and what is the company contribution
- The ratio of grant funding is up to 60% grant 40% company contribution
- Your contribution is a cash contribution
- The maximum grant allowed is £2000
Who is eligible to apply to the fund
All businesses must have SME status (fewer than 250 employees and no more than a 50 million euro turnover) and meet the following criteria:
- Pay business rates to a South Yorkshire local authority;
- Trade business to business, but can trade business to consumer e-trade;
- A minimum of 10% turnover should come from outside South Yorkshire;
- Not be publicly funded although trade with the public sector is allowed.
Exclusions
There are certain industries that are ineligible these are:
- Road transport; Contruction; Retail; Agriculture and Fisheries
How to apply
- You should contact a Business Crime Reduction Centre Business Adviser situated within the four Chambers of Commerce, or you can contact us direct on 0114 275 1336 where a Business Adviser will be assigned to you.
- Your company will receive a site visit and a security assessment will be undertaken.
- Findings will be presented to you and the adviser will let you know if funding may be available.
- The adviser will assist you in the application process.
- Three estimates from independent suppliers must be submitted at the application stage.
- NOTE: applications cannot be submitted direct to the Business Crime Reduction Centre, they must come through an adviser.
What happens next
- Applications will be assessed monthly by the Business Crime Reduction Centre and a panel of independent evaluators.
- The panel decision is final and no appeals can be made.
- If the application is successful a letter of support will be sent out to you along with a Crime Prevention Fund Agreement, setting out what funding is awarded and how the funds should be used.
- On no account should work go ahead without the approval of the assessment panel.
- You will pay the supplier directly and claim the agreed support from us.
- In exceptional circumstances it may be possible to assess applications prior to the official monthly panel sitting.
Deadline for applications
Monday 28th April 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 15th May 2008
Monday 30th June 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 17th July 2008
Monday 28th July 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 14th August 2008
Monday 25th August 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 11th September 2008
Monday 29th September 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 9th October 2008
Monday 27th October 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 13th November 2008
Monday 24th November 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 11th December 2008
Monday 29th December 2008 - panel sitting Thursday 15th January 2009
Any queries
Queries should be addressed to Ian Smith, Senior Business Adviser, Business Crime Reduction Centre, Telephone: 07825 326404 or Email: i.smith@bcrc-uk.org