Businesses in South Yorkshire are less productive, less efficient and as a result many lag behind other parts of the UK in terms of economic output- those were the findings of the 2015 Sheffield City Region Economic Plan. It’s been five years since that report was published, so what’s happened to South Yorkshire since that time?
A challenge identified in the report was the apparent reduced levels of productivity being achieved by businesses based in South Yorkshire, compared with other areas of the UK.
The plan identified a productivity gap of 83% per employee within the Sheffield City Region when compared with the rest of England. Crucially, the document revealed that rather than closing the gap, in reality it was widening. At its heart, the economic plan identified a number of key factors that directly impacted the region’s overall levels of productivity: an over-reliance on low-skilled employment, a prevalence of public sector employment and an enterprise gap.
With a clear ambition to cut the enterprise deficit by increasing productivity, the Business Productivity Programme sought to help businesses based in the region to increase highly skilled positions, overcome skills barriers and unlock potential hurdles to growth.
The Business Productivity Programme initiative was one of a number of measures introduced to help businesses based in South Yorkshire linked to the region’s recovery from Covid-19 and aimed to contribute towards closing the productivity gap in South Yorkshire and the rest of the UK by 2041.
So far, the programme has lead to a 95% reported increase in productivity.
In 2020, South Yorkshire’s four local authorities, led by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund to help South Yorkshire’s SMEs to overcome the productivity challenges faced by businesses operating within the county. One of the solutions identified was the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme: an initiative that provided match-funded grants to help SMEs based within South Yorkshire to overcome the productivity challenges they faced.
Funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Business Productivity Programme operated between 2020 and 2023. During that time, the scheme helped businesses to access a total of £3.8m in match funded grants, helping to unlock their growth potential.
At its heart, the Business Productivity Grant scheme aimed to help businesses to overcome a number of challenges, ranging from automating or speeding up labour intensive processes, reducing down time, investing in new forms of technology as well as maximising the use of space.
Businesses could apply for a grant between £2,500 and £12,499 towards the overall costs of the project, with the total project value being between £5,000 and £24,999. As of February 2023, 424 businesses were supported during the programme, with 359 SMEs receiving grants to overcome the challenges they faced.
The scheme was led by Enterprising Barnsley and delivered across South Yorkshire by Business Doncaster, Business Sheffield and RiDO, with each local authority using a team of Key Account Managers to engage with local businesses and to offer support and guidance when it came to overcoming the productivity challenges they faced.
In June, the first phase of the Business Productivity Programme will come to a close, having successfully helped businesses across the region to create 524 new jobs and safeguard 1719 roles. In total, 95% of all businesses that benefitted from the scheme reported an increase in productivity and 71% a positive impact upon profitability.
According to research produced on behalf of Enterprising Barnsley, the measures embraced by SMEs through the Business Productivity Programme are likely to result in a staggering £12.1m being added to the local economy each year, as a result of increased levels of growth.
South Yorkshire businesses have also reported a 71% positive impact on profitability.
It can be easy to look at such figures in a fairly abstract way, but in many cases, the grant support provided through the Business Productivity Programme hasn’t just helped businesses to overcome barriers to growth but enabled them to open up new markets for their products and services.
One such business was Barnsley-based Impact Framing. The specialist picture framing business was launched by Robert Friend in 2000 and until recently, specialised exclusively in making custom-built frames that are used to display a range of cherished possessions ranging from original artworks and mirrors to football shirts, medals, sporting memorabilia and professional photography.
The company successfully secured grant funding through the Business Productivity Programme to invest in new equipment, allowing it to fulfil larger orders. Since securing the funds, the numbers of frames manufactured has increased from little more than 1500 per year to nearly a thousand a month.
According to Robert, the funds received were transformational: “The changes we have made have allowed the business to become more competitive without compromising on quality.”
Impact Framing’s story is one of many of the success stories from businesses across South Yorkshire, which have successfully embraced positive change as a direct result of funding secured through the Business Productivity programme.
Hear the stories from some of the other businesses who have reaped the benefits of the first phase of the programme:
DigitalXRAID
Doncaster-based cybersecurity specialist DigitalXRAID called for help from the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme to help its clients stay one step ahead of cyber-criminals by helping it to pioneer a unique cybersecurity portal designed to provide its clients with a holistic overview of its cybersecurity measures and assess potential risks more effectively.
OrbitalX is the first platform of its kind that enables all of a company’s cybersecurity measures to be viewed from a single source and enable greater collaboration across the business, and as such, DigitalXRAID believes the platform could be a genuine game changer when it comes to giving businesses the initiative in the battle against cybercriminals.
Since work began on the platform, DigitalXRAID has found its services to be in high demand: over the past 12 months alone, the company’s workforce has grown by 30%, and the company believes that the launch of its new platform will provide a catalyst to enjoy significant future growth.
CEO of DigitalXRAID said: “The funding we’ve secured has been a genuine game changer for us. It has enabled us to be the first to bring a platform of this kind to market.”
Philford Design Engineering
Rotherham-based Philford Design Engineering designs, manufactures and installs the vital equipment relied upon by the quarrying, mining, recycling and energy sectors, including conveyor belts, crushers and automated metal detection equipment.
Reliant upon dedicated welding bays, one of the challenges the business faced was moving the large components it produced around its large factory during the manufacturing process, resulting in significant amounts of down-time.
Grant funding provided through the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme helped the company to invest in mobile welding units and the vital ventilation equipment needed to keep works safe.
Philford’s Daniel Becket said: “As a relatively small business, we knew that the key to creating sustainable growth wasn’t simply about recruiting new members of staff, but also overcoming the barriers that were impacting our capacity. This meant re-thinking the way in which we operated as a business.”
The measures have helped the business to reduce lost production by half a day per employee, per week. As a direct result, the company has increased its manufacturing capabilities. Over the past 12 months the company has seen its workforce increase by 25%, and with a growing order book, Philford is planning to expand its workforce further by creating new apprenticeships to help inspire the next generation of skilled engineers.
Blake UK
Blake UK has been designing and manufacturing a wide range of aerials, CCTV systems, Wi-Fi signal boosting equipment and networking products for domestic and commercial use for more than 50 years. Faced with increased competition, notably from overseas, the company realised that to fulfil its growth ambitions it needed to improve the paper-based systems it relied upon.
With the aim of making the entire company paperless, Paul applied to the Business Productivity Grant Programme for help. The match-funded grant allowed the company to invest in its manufacturing systems, whilst upgrading the company’s computer systems vastly improved its ability to monitor stock and reduce waste.
As a direct result of the support received from the Business Productivity Grant, Blake UK has been able to successfully eliminate substantial amounts of waste – and costs. The introduction of a paperless order processing system, as well as consolidating and streamlining processes elsewhere within the company’s manufacturing, warehousing and sales operations, has helped Blake UK to save the business approximately 16 hours per month, as well as a further 24 hours per month as a result of the improved management processes.
Paul Blake said: “Moving to paperless systems has helped us to reduce the amount of waste we generate, and as a direct result of the improved processes we’ve implemented we’ve seen demand for our products rise. We also expanded our workforce as a result, creating two new apprenticeships within the business.”
Flexpak UK
Flexpak is hoping to grab an extra slice of the packaging market after funds from the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme helped the Barnsley headquartered business to build a brand-new lab facility, enabling food producers to reduce the volume of single-use plastics being consigned to landfill.
Responsible for manufacturing over 20 million bread bags each month, as well as supplying packaging to the catering and pharmaceutical industries, the Wombwell-based business recognised that the development of an ultra-thin film could not only reduce the amount of plastic used in the manufacturing process but could also result in significant cost savings for its customers.
To bring the new product to market, Flexpak realised that it needed to upgrade key equipment within its testing facility, allowing the strength, friction and durability of the new film to be accurately analysed, and secured funds from the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme to bring its new product range to market.
As a direct result of the funds received, Flexpak has successfully pioneered a plastic film that is just 25 microns thick – the equivalent of a human skin cell. The film is capable of holding up to 10kg in weight and is already helping its customers to make significant cost savings. Flexpak estimates that the amount of plastic being consigned to landfill is likely to be reduced by as much as 20%, whilst the company is hoping to expand its workforce in Barnsley to 15 employees.
Technical support manager Tom Rich said: “Developing a lab facility in Barnsley was central to our future growth plans. Without the help we’ve received from the Business Productivity Programme, it’s likely that it would have taken us several years to perfect the new range.”
Will the Business Productivity Programme return?
Such has been the success of the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme that plans are underway to relaunch a new version of the scheme later this year. The SYMCA website publishes a list of grants and financial support currently available to support businesses in South Yorkshire, and any businesses interested in pre-registering for the next phase of the South Yorkshire Business Productivity Programme should contact Enterprising Barnsley, Business Doncaster, Business Sheffield and RiDO.
