Subsidy control

Under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (“the Act”), a subsidy is where a public authority provides support to an enterprise that gives them an economic advantage, meaning equivalent support could not have been obtained on commercial terms. This can take the form of a grant, a tax break, a loan, a guarantee, partial funding of services, provision of services without cost, or equity investment on favourable terms, amongst other kinds of support.

The Food Innovation and Technology for Success Project provides services without cost and (where applicable) 100%, 80% or 50% of the cost of the project as grant funded, and these services are offered to you by us as Minimal Financial Assistance (“MFA”). Under the Act, MFA allows public authorities to award low value subsidies without needing to comply with the majority of the subsidy control requirements. MFA has a financial threshold so no recipient can receive more than £315,000 over the applicable period under section 36(1) of the Act.

Cumulation rules apply to MFA. This is essential to ensure that the UK is complying with its international obligations. MFA subsidies cumulate with each other and with other subsidies that fall within the category of ‘Minimal or SPEI financial assistance’. This captures all the different low value exemptions an enterprise could receive in support from UK public authorities. The following should all be taken into account during the current and previous two financial years:

• Minimal Financial Assistance
• SPEI assistance
• Aid given under the EU State aid de minimis regulations before the end of the implementation period of 31 December 2020 and
• Subsidies given as small amounts of financial assistance (SAFA) under Articles 364(4) or 365(3) of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement after the end of the implementation period but prior to this section of the Act coming into effect.

Please review and identify any of the above support you have received in the past 3 financial years including state aid/EU subsidies. If you are in doubt about how previous support is classed, please contact the organisation that provided it.

Confirmation must be given by someone who is authorised to do so on behalf of your organisation, you may wish to get advice from your business accountant.

We take this opportunity to remind you that you are required to keep a written record of the amount of MFA you have received and the date/s when it was received. The written record must be kept for at least three years beginning with the date on which the MFA was given. This will enable you to respond to future requests from public authorities on how much MFA your organisation has received and whether you have reached the cumulative threshold.

Business size

The size of your business will influence the subsidy control (funded value) and contribution value that may need to be made towards the workshop. If unsure, please refer to your business financial lead as incorrectly defining your business size could lead incurred charges later.

Use the table below to determine your business size:

Enterprise category	Headcount annual work unit (AWU)	Annual turnover	Annual balance sheet total
Large*	If meet no more than 1 of the criteria noted against Medium sized business
Medium	Not more than 250	Not more than £36m	Not more than £18m
Small	Not more than 50	Not more than £10.2m	Not more than £5.1m
Micro	Not more than 10	Not more than £632K	Not more than £316K

*Please note if your business is part of a group then it will be considered large for subsidy control purposes.

Where the exact amount of the MFA subsidy is not clear, the gross value amount should be the maximum possible amount of the subsidy that may be given, or the maximum reasonable estimate. If a lower amount of subsidy is in fact given, ZERO2FIVE will issue a revised MFA confirmation setting out the actual amount of subsidy given, so that the enterprise may be eligible to receive more MFA from other sources during the three-year period.