New funding package aims to safeguard thousands of jobs in manufacturing heartland

Small to Medium-sized (SME) manufacturers across Yorkshire are being urged to take their share of a 6.5m funding boost to help them recover from the Covid-19 pandemic

The Manufacturing Growth Programme, which is funded by ERDF and delivered by Oxford Innovation Services, has been extended until December 2022 and will give a further 2,800

companies access to industry experts and grants to tackle business issues and support improvement plans.

A spokesman said: "This additional backing will safeguard or create 3,500 jobs and takes the total package of support the initiative is able to deliver to £18.3m across 17 regions, with businesses in the Sheffield City Region able to apply for the first time."

Firms are given access to a dedicated local Manufacturing Growth Manager, who will use GROWTHmapper - a business diagnostic tool - to develop an individual action

plan and support business projects, ranging from environmental improvements, leadership and management and marketing to people and skills, quality and supply chain development.

Martin Coats, the managing director of the Manufacturing Growth Programme, said: "All the media attention is on the headline manufacturers and how they are coping in the

wake of Covid-19…it’s our job to look at how the smaller manufacturers supporting these big businesses are performing and what we can do to help them.

“Our track record in delivering on-the-ground expert support was pivotal in us securing an additional £6.5m of funding that is ring-fenced for ensuring SME manufacturers can overcome barriers to growth and return to doing what they do best…making things.”

He continued: “Helping manufacturers is not easy and you need a tailored approach, delivered by experts who know what it is like working in industry.

"The Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), their local Growth Hubs and the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government have seen first-hand the value we add to firms in their respective areas and this has resulted in further commitment to support us for another two and a half years.”

The Manufacturing Growth Programme is the only dedicated business support programme for SME manufacturers in Yorkshire, delivering £1.2m of grants since its launch in October

2016.

This has been used to help more than 850 companies, creating nearly 800 local jobs and safeguarding hundreds more.

Huddersfield-based Visual Systems Healthcare, a specialist in custom designed visual communication services for the NHS and private hospitals across the country, worked with

the Manufacturing Growth Programme to upgrade its production facility.

Chris Hunter, Managing Director, commented: “Working with MGP has proven invaluable to the resilience and sustainability of our manufacturing operation, especially during these

challenging times.

“Without this assistance, we would have been unable to fulfil the urgent time driven orders received from the Nightingale hospitals during April. My advice is simply to reach out and

talk to the team at MGP, the difference they make is massive.”

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor