UK’s small business support scheme suffers slow take-up The Government’s Help to Grow programme – a scheme designed to boost productivity among SMEs – has only signed up 2,500 companies, less than 10% of its target of 30,000. The £520m scheme was described by Chancellor Rishi Sunak when it was announced in the March 2021 Budget as a way to ensure SMEs “are embracing the latest technology and management training [and] fuelling our Plan for Jobs by boosting productivity in all corners of the UK.” But Craig Beaumont, chief of external affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, said the scheme was badly designed and that around 90% of SMEs were not eligible due largely to the requirement that businesses need to have at least five employees.