Supporting business
Supporting business to start, grow and investOverview
Ensuring that Kirklees continues to be attractive as a location to start, grow and invest in business is a key objective of the Inclusive Economy Strategy. Despite a series of global economic shocks over the last five years, our local business base has remained resilient.
Manufacturing and engineering continue to underpin our local economy - accounting for just under 16% of jobs but 26% of GVA - and some of our most successful firms supply into a diverse range of sectors, reducing their dependency on individual markets. Textiles remains a key part of the Kirklees economy as it has for the last 300 years, with many businesses moving up the value chain.
Productivity is improving but continues to lag the UK average. Securing further productivity improvements - through developing the skills of the workforce, applying innovation and increasing capital investment - is a key priority and is, ultimately, how our key employers can sustain increased wages and, in turn, improve household incomes.
There are risks - and opportunities - associated with the rapid development of automation/digitisation and AI, but they will also drive productivity growth. Whilst some roles will undoubtedly be at risk, new, skilled jobs will also be required to ensure that businesses take advantage of their potential.
The vast majority of Kirklees firms are microbusinesses employing 10 or fewer staff. Start-ups, microbusinesses and smaller SMEs often need support - including in some cases grant finance - to capitalise on growth opportunities, deploy innovation or implement productivity improvements.
The public sector - both regionally and locally - will continue to play a key role in widening access to the support that is available, alongside private sector advisors.
Moving forward, the business support 'ecosystem' will balance support for those sectors with the greatest potential for productivity growth with increasing access to support for all businesses, including those in the foundational economy where there are opportunities to create entry level jobs.
Many of our business owners are also residents who care about their communities. We also understand that cooperatives, social enterprises and community businesses drive increased employment and investment while considering their impact on the environment.
Success measures
- 1. Number of start-ups
- 2. Percentage of start-ups surviving 3 years
- 3. Number of jobs created
- 4. Productivity improvements (measure TBC)
- 5. Number of cooperatives, social enterprises and employee-owned businesses
Actions
The Council's gateway model ensures there is no wrong way to access support and that each business gains the right support tailored to their needs. Local delivery of the West Yorkshire-wide Ad:Venture programme has been successful along with UKSPF-supported Thrive health and wellbeing incubator.
Moving forward, there is a need to retain locally embedded start-up capacity and develop more effective marketing campaigns and accessible role models to achieve a step change in the number of people considering starting their own business. It will also be important to ensure appropriate referral routes are in place for unemployed or economically inactive residents, and for those seeking to explore social enterprise or cooperative business models.
New businesses formed around innovative goods and services are one of the main ways our economy progresses. Timely access to the right support will see an increase in new, more productive business startups in Kirklees.
Increasingly, new businesses, products and services will take advantage of more sustainable approaches and respond to consumer and business demand for these. Providing rapid access to support will be key to their success in transforming markets.
Data shows more business startups are coming from our more deprived neighbourhoods, and from an increasingly ethnically diverse backgrounds. By providing tailored support, businesses of different types will be able to reach their potential, delivering benefits for local communities as well as the wider district.
SMEs often need access to a range of business support to fulfil their growth potential. The support ecosystem includes professional advisors, business networks and public sector-funded support.
WYCA's recent business support review has highlighted the need to develop a more compelling, universal online offer to increase engagement levels whilst maintaining essential advisor capacity at local level to sustain business relationships.
Working with partners, we will continue to simplify and streamline access to business support whilst seeking to widen and deepen engagement with microbusinesses and SMEs in particular.
Businesses across a broad range of types and sectors must be given opportunity to reach their growth potential. Removing barriers to investment, supporting innovation and promoting export readiness will contribute to growth.
Increasingly those businesses able to grow are those that demonstrate their goods and services are socially and environmentally sustainable.
Balancing a targeted approach to high growth sectors and a universal approach that enables foundation economy businesses to access support– our offer will guarantee all businesses with growth potential can benefit. By building on existing support requirements we expect to create more good jobs accessible to all local residents.
The emerging National Health Innovation Campus (NHIC) will become one of the largest UK centres for teaching nurses and other allied health professionals, and for research in key areas of specialism including clinical diagnostics.
The inclusion of key public health facilities - including the first NHS Community Diagnostic Centre on a university campus – creates a significant opportunity for the co-location of businesses seeking access to facilities and research expertise.
The NHIC is a compelling example of a university aligning its teaching and research activity to address both global challenges and local needs. We will work with the University to explore wider opportunities to align research expertise with local business needs and inward investment. The National Physical Laboratory may provide an early opportunity to pilot this approach.
Building on existing mechanisms like Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, there is a significant opportunity to align research and innovation activity with local/regional business needs. Developing new products and processes and diffusing innovation will drive up productivity and market dynamism.
There is a significant opportunity to align research and teaching to support the transition to net zero and the development of new low carbon products and services.
The University can play a key role in developing a more inclusive economy in its role as an anchor institution through inclusive recruitment, local procurement and through research into inclusive growth.
In recent years we have developed our 'place narrative' on the unique benefits of locating in Kirklees and will continue to do so. We will deliver on this ambition by understanding the needs of incoming businesses, building effective partnerships and developing our lead generation capability, linked to key sectors.
If we are to compete successfully with other locations within and beyond West Yorkshire this will require a significant increase in the scale, quality and choice of employment land and premises across Kirklees. Market conditions dictate that there is little or no speculative industrial or commercial development in Kirklees and this is a significant barrier to growth.
We will capitalise on the unparalleled investment in rail connectivity to promote key development opportunities including the Station to Stadium Corridor in Huddersfield, underpinned by the University's NHIC.
Increasing productivity is dependent on increasing investment levels that allow development of new floorspace to support growth, adoption of new technology and the acquisition of new plant/equipment.
We are keen to see investment from firms adopting new, more sustainable approaches and creating more green jobs. Many of our existing precision engineering and manufacturing businesses are already part of the supply chain for green products.
The new jobs created through inward investment will serve to reduce unemployment and economic inactivity. Often inward investment can take the form of the expansion of large or foreign-owned businesses already established in Kirklees. This helps embed those businesses in the area and creates the opportunity to work in partnership to achieve inclusive growth objectives and other corporate social responsibility benefits.
The vast majority of Kirklees business owners are local people who are invested in their local communities. We know that many of them want to see their local places thrive by doing more to serve their neighbourhoods, being more sustainable and supporting other local businesses. We will continue to increase support to businesses to do these things in ways that complement and support their own business activities
Both younger employees and investors are increasingly seeking social engagement and impact from the organisations they work for. Attracting and retaining workforce and investment will therefore rely on demonstrating and supporting community participation.
The processes we develop to support SV - building on existing assets - will also be available for local businesses that want to engage in their communities. The same emphasis on places that might struggle to mobilise resources will also apply.
Both business leaders and communities see the environment as a key priority for local engagement. By providing clear information to businesses we expect to see positive impact in this area.
We know that there continues to be strong interest in promoting diverse business models, including those with a clear social purpose.
Often specialist advice and support is required by entrepreneurs seeking to establish social enterprises, cooperatives or other alternative business models as corporate structures and governance frameworks may differ from more conventional business forms. Nonetheless, their founders share an entrepreneurial skillset and attitude with more conventional start-ups.
Employee ownership is also an increasingly relevant option for business succession. We will work with partners to build on and extend the existing support offer.
Productivity has been demonstrated to be higher in European countries with higher levels of cooperatives. This is in part explained through longer term thinking and increased investment in R&D. Employee-ownership is also likely to be important for the retention of well-established local businesses and related jobs.
Increased democratic ownership is expected to support benefits to the environment as decision makers consider the longer-term impacts for themselves rather than the short-term priorities of shareholders.
Alternative business models are often shown to provide better terms and conditions for employees and to have a focus on recruiting those with barriers to employment.
Case studies
Building on the success created by the Huddersfield Health Innovation Partnership and Kirklees Council's Thrive project, previously funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), the new Huddersfield Health Innovation Incubator (HHII), welcomes a next chapter of support for start-ups, microbusinesses and growing SMEs in the fast-growing Health and Wellbeing sectors across our region.
Now funded through the West Yorkshire Health Innovation and Digital Tech Investment Zone, the new programme will support businesses in three core phases: Start, Grow and Connect.
In partnership with NHS and local stakeholders, the Incubator aims to drive innovation, create high-value jobs, and support the regional health innovation ecosystem, including the University of Huddersfield's National Health Innovation Campus (NHIC).
The Council provides free, expert advice for pre-start, new and young businesses up to three years old via our Business Kirklees service, helping support new business creation, economic growth and the creation of innovative entrepreneurs across our region.
Dedicated account managers provide tailored information and guidance in key business areas such as mentoring, research, business planning, employment, premises/workspaces and marketing.
New startups are encouraged to build their knowledge, ideas and confidence, grow their networks, form relationships with other key services and are also supported to access funding opportunities.
The Kirklees Top 100 Companies initiative aims to shine a spotlight on the district as an attractive destination for inward investment, business start-up, scale-up and growth. It is a joint venture between the University of Huddersfield, Kirklees Council and the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC) and is designed to celebrate and measure business growth across the region.
Published annually every autumn, the list is compiled using a set of consistent metrics that include a combination of turnover, profit, employee numbers and growth, all derived from published company accounts of locally registered firms drawn from the Bureau Van Dijk - FAME database.
Spin-off editions of the brochure include the Careers edition, that goes into schools and colleges to be used as a tool by careers leads, to inspire our local talent, and future workforce, by highlighting careers opportunities that exist right here in Kirklees.
The initiative also aims to bring together the Kirklees business community through collaborative opportunities, events and sharing best practice. We have built a successful group of HR professionals from across the region that regularly meets to discuss challenges and topics of interest, including hybrid working, apprenticeships, international recruitment and graduate development.
