New Business Start Up Programme - AWARD

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (the CA) and the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (the LEP), is seeking to appoint a Single Service Delivery Provider or Group with a 'Lead Operator' to complement and add value to the existing support available across West Yorkshire for business start-ups. The CA /LEP also work in close partnership with the five Local Authorities (LAs) in West Yorkshire, which are also members of the CA, these are City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, The Borough Council of Calderdale, The Council of The Borough of Kirklees, Leeds City Council, The Council of The City of Wakefield.

The service to be commissioned will provide practical help and support to people who have decided to start a new business in West Yorkshire, with a focus on businesses with lower initial growth aspiration and that do not expect to turnover more than £250k in their first 12 months of trading. Although the focus of delivery will be start-up businesses with lower growth plans, the programme will still aim to support and encourage the growth ambitions of start-up business where this is appropriate, including referral to higher growth programmes where this would add value. The focus of this commission is individuals who have made a definite decision to start a business, support is not aimed at those who are still exploring business start-up as an employment option.

The start-up support provided by the programme will be open to any sector and to any business operating any legal business model. The programme is expected to deliver both one-to-many support through events, workshops and seminars, and one-to-one mentoring/coaching. The split of this will be determined by the individual respondents to the tender, but the principle of those start-ups with most growth potential getting the most hours of support (including one-to-one) should be considered. The support package will need to cover the key areas of expertise that a start-up business needs to address in order to trade compliantly and successfully.

The contract will be for an initial term of 18 months with a value of £1m, with an option to extend based upon successful performance and at the discretion of the CA for a further 18 months and additional value of £1m.