£330,000 UKSPF Funding investment powers business growth and job creation in Central Bedfordshire
Monday, 2 February 2026
We're marking £330,000 of UKSPF funding for 2025 to 2026, which has provided mentoring, training and expert support to help local businesses grow in a tough economy.
The results for this period so far speak for themselves:
- 60 enterprises received 12 hours or more of non-financial support
- 33 potential entrepreneurs assisted to become enterprise ready
- 39 new enterprises were created as a result of the programme
- 55 jobs generated, providing new opportunities for residents
These figures represent current totals and with 150 to 200 businesses still participating, we anticipate that by 31 March 2026 many of these outputs will more than double, further strengthening resilience and growth across the region.
Councillor Tracey Wye, Chair of the Local Partnership Group said:
The £2 million of UKSPF funding has done a fantastic job of strengthening the local economy and helping our businesses to grow and expand. Supporting local businesses is more important than ever in these challenging times. This funding has not only strengthened our local economy but has changed lives. We’ve seen individuals gain the confidence and skills to start their own businesses, grow their businesses and expand their export potential.
Jobs have been created and the personal stories behind these numbers are simply inspiring from someone launching their first business to others expanding, exporting and hiring locally. This is what real impact looks like.
Ester Roche, CEO, DeRoiste Natural Beauty who participated in these support programmes:
I think this programme is really important for local businesses because it does help you to grow when you’re actually ready, where people have gone from start-up to scale-up into periods of real growth and innovation, that’s really exciting for the area.
It’s been really positive and inspiring to network with other participants, hear their journeys and how far they actually come and the importance of having this funding and support available for business to the local area.
Justin Richardson, CEO of Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce commented:
What we’ve seen with the hundreds of businesses we’ve worked with over the last couple of years on the programme, is accessing new markets and expanding in growth in new areas for their business.
We are seeing some real success stories, some real inspiring stories where people have gone from start up to scale up, into real periods of growth and innovation, and that’s really exciting for the area.
A business conference was held in November 2025 with alumni from the different streams of the 2023 to 2025 programme. A post conference video showcases the impact this investment has made to recipients of the fund.