The government’s Help to Grow: Digital scheme will receive a three-part boost from today to help businesses adopt new digital technologies.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is expanding eligibility for the Help to Grow: Digital scheme by reducing the minimum number of employees a business must have from five to one. This means the number of companies able to apply will almost triple, with up to 1.2m UK businesses being eligible to access discounts worth up to £5,000 on approved software.

Alongside this, BEIS is also launching an expanded offer, adding e-commerce software that will support businesses to sell online and reach new markets. This includes software to help companies manage their inventory, take payments and gather data and insights on customers' needs. Businesses that adopt e-commerce software see on average a 7.5% increase in employee sales over three years.

Furthermore, the Help to Grow: Digital scheme will also be supporting one-to-one advice for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) on digital tech adoption. BEIS is inviting applications from advice platforms to partner with it from next Monday 1 August, with the aim of the service being in place for SMEs later this year.

ICAEW welcomes the government’s actions. “It is a positive step that will allow the smallest businesses to receive much-needed help in harnessing technology to improve productivity and provide SME businesses with access to software to support a wider range of business processes,” says Esther Mallowah, Head of Tech Policy at ICAEW.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the government to further improve the scheme to address additional business needs, particularly around providing help for costs beyond licensing, and further increasing the scope of approved software and vendors.”