Regional Selective Assistance – Scotland

Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is a national grant scheme, aimed at encouraging investment and job creation in areas of Scotland. Businesses can apply for RSA, whether they are Scottish-owned or owned or headquartered outside Scotland.

The Scottish Executive (SE) wants to ensure that as many eligible businesses as possible can access an RSA grant. To help achieve this aim, the SE:

• Offer a streamlined process for applications up to £250K
• Provide a joined-up service to business by working closely with Scottish Enterprise
• Can support projects that are low on capital expenditure but still create worthwhile jobs

RSA is available to limited companies, sole traders or partnerships. In order to qualify, your project must meet all of the scheme’s criteria. It must:

• Take place in an Assisted Area
• Directly create or safeguard jobs within your business
• Not simply be offset by job losses elsewhere in the Assisted Areas
• Involve an element of capital investment (e.g. expenditure on land & buildings, plant & machinery, software and, in some circumstances, the acquisition of intellectual property from third parties). Project capital investment can be on either new or second-hand items.
• Along with your underlying business, be financially viable
• Be mainly funded from the private sector
• Need RSA to enable it to proceed

The application process involves completing and submitting an application form and supporting financial documentation. For projects costing under £250,000 a business plan is not normally required. Once the grant application has been approved, payments of RSA are made in instalments according to an agreed schedule linked to job and project expenditure targets.

Occupiers on Technopole

As the Technopole is an assisted area, tenants on the park are eligible to apply for this grant.

They may apply where they plan to:

• launch a new business
• modernise, expand or re-organise an existing business
• upgrade an existing business, i.e. introducing technological or other innovatory improvements into manufacturing, services or other business processes
• take a new product, service or process from the development stage to production.

For instance, if a research company wishes to invest in a new medical research facility and additional equipment, they may be eligible for funding. Likewise, an IT firm wishing to establish networked applications services, by creating additional permanent jobs, may also be eligible. Another typical example would be a manufacturing company with a project to modernise its processes and/ or invest in a new facility.

Business Criteria

Is Your Business a Small Enterprise?

Your business must employ less than 50 people and either

• Have a turnover of less than £6.7m (€10m) or
• Have a balance sheet total (net assets) of less than £6.7m (€10m)

Is Your Business a Medium-sized Enterprise?

Your business must employ less than 250 people and either

• Have a turnover of less than £34m (€50m) or
• Have a balance sheet total (net assets) of less than £29m (€43m)

All of your business' partner and linked enterprises must be taken into account in determining your size. Businesses wholly or mainly operating in a local market, e.g. retail and catering, will not qualify.

How much Grant?

Most grants represent about 7.5%-15% of project capital expenditure, depending on the size of the company applying, (15% for small companies and 7.5% for medium sized companies). These grants generally work out at between £5,000 and £10,000 per eligible job created.

Most projects require a substantial amount of capital investment. However, for projects involving relatively low levels of capital expenditure but which involve the creation of new jobs, RSA can still make a meaningful contribution to project funding. For these projects, SE can calculate limits on potential grant by applying the appropriate aid intensity level to the first two years’ salary costs of the project jobs. Please note that aid for job creation does not apply in respect of safeguarded jobs.

For further information see www.rsascotland.gov.uk

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