Public sector business support is moving into a more complex phase. As UKSPF ends and new funding arrangements come into view, local teams are under pressure to do more with tighter resources, more varied eligibility rules and a less consistent delivery landscape.

That is why speaking directly to businesses still matters. In a system that is harder for businesses to navigate, human-led outreach helps public sector teams explain relevance, qualify need, capture evidence and guide businesses towards the right support at the right time.

A changed funding picture

A recent GC Insight whitepaper, Reimagining Business Support in a Post-UKSPF World, suggests that business support is entering a less uniform phase, shaped by the end of UKSPF, the introduction of the Local Growth Fund for selected Mayoral Combined Authorities, and a more mixed pattern of local funding and delivery.

From April 2026, the Local Growth Fund will provide £902 million across 11 Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England over the next four financial years, while the Pride in Place programme is a 10-year investment that now extends to around 380 areas. But the picture is still far from uniform, and not every area has a like-for-like successor to the business support activity previously backed through UKSPF.

In that environment, relying on businesses to find and navigate support by themselves is unlikely to be enough. Businesses that are busy, cautious or unclear on eligibility may struggle to work their way through multiple schemes, criteria and routes without some form of guided engagement.

A single front door needs people

One of the most useful ideas in the paper is the need for more integrated support and a clearer “single front door” for businesses. It highlights places such as Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester as examples of more coordinated systems, where joined-up teams and stronger referral pathways make support easier to navigate.

In practice, though, a single front door is not just a digital destination. It also needs a human layer that can listen, qualify and direct. Businesses rarely arrive with a perfect understanding of what support is available, whether they qualify, or which route makes most sense for them.

We have seen this first-hand across a range of local-authority business outreach projects. In one outreach project supporting local-authority business support and grant programmes, many eligible firms had not engaged simply because they were unaware the support existed. This reflected not a lack of appetite, but a gap between available provision and business awareness. The work went on to exceed the initial baseline target for the Business Growth Grant by 50 per cent and targets for the Sustainable Programme of Low Carbon Grants by 27 per cent. It is a useful reminder that outreach does more than promote a scheme; it helps close the gap between funded provision and genuine business awareness.

A practical front-door model usually does five things well:

1. It makes businesses aware that relevant support exists.
2. It explains why that support may be relevant to their circumstances.
3. It qualifies need before passing the business into a delivery route.
4. It signposts businesses elsewhere when the first option is not the right fit.
5. It creates a cleaner handover between outreach, triage and adviser support.

Better support starts with listening

Two principles in the paper are just as important here: support should be evidence-led and flexible. The paper makes the case that data tools matter, but also argues that data on its own is not enough; market feedback, benchmarking and frontline intelligence are needed if local teams want to target resources properly and design support around real business need.

This is where speaking to businesses adds real value. Good outreach is not only about awareness or appointments; it is also a form of live diagnosis. It helps teams understand whether a business is ready for immediate intervention, whether a different route would be more useful, or whether the barrier is more basic, such as timing, confidence or internal capacity.

A regional Growth Hub outreach project delivered by Blueberry shows the same principle in practice. Structured telephone surveys helped uncover SMEs’ growth ambitions, support needs and preferred routes into support, while also creating a stronger pipeline for adviser follow-up. The campaign found that 82 per cent of engaged key contacts progressed into a referral, email follow-up or newsletter subscription. It also highlighted a clear awareness gap: only around 1 per cent of businesses had previously used the Growth Hub, yet almost 45 per cent of survey participants requested a follow-up call once the support was explained.

The same thinking applies to evaluation as well as delivery. In City of York Council’s micro-grant research, in-depth telephone interviews with recipients helped build a stronger evidence base for the scheme and showed that the grants contributed to the survival of almost 300 businesses. The research also surfaced wider effects across digitalisation, workforce upskilling, resilience and wellbeing, which are the kinds of outcomes that simple output reporting often misses.

What effective outreach looks like

The strongest version of human-led outreach is not a replacement for digital services. It is a practical complement to them. Websites, forms and self-service tools still matter, but they work better when businesses also have a clear route into a conversation that can interpret need and reduce friction.

For local authorities, growth hubs, universities and public bodies, that means building outreach around a few disciplined principles:

• Use data to prioritise, but let conversations test and refine the data
• Treat outreach as triage, not just promotion
• Capture frontline insight in a way that improves future targeting, programme design and reporting
• Keep referral pathways clear, so businesses are not pushed through a generic route when their circumstances are specific
• Recognise that some businesses need reassurance, signposting or better timing before they need adviser time

In a fragmented funding environment, there is a clear case for speaking to businesses now. The value of outreach is not simply that it gets attention; it helps public sector teams make support easier to access, more relevant to the business in front of them and more accountable to the evidence coming back from the market.

Get in touch!

If your team needs to reach the right businesses, improve programme take-up or build stronger evidence for delivery, Blueberry can help. Contact us at info@blueberryms.co.uk or call 0113 487 7013 to discuss.

References

• GC Insight. (2026, 4 March). Reimagining Business Support in a Post-UKSPF World. Available at: https://www.gcinsight.co.uk/reimagine
• GOV.UK. (2025, 25 November). Local Growth Fund (England): place selection and allocation methodology. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-growth-fund-england-place-selection-and-allocation-methodology
• GOV.UK. (2026, 4 February). Pride in Place: 40 neighbourhoods join transformational programme. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pride-in-place-40-neighbourhoods-join-transformational-programme
• Blueberry Marketing Solutions. Council Exceeds Business Programme Delivery Targets. Available at: https://blueberryms.co.uk/case-studies/local-authority-case-study/
• Blueberry Marketing Solutions. Telemarketing Partnership Boosts International Trade. Available at: https://blueberryms.co.uk/case-studies/exporting-telemarketing/
• Blueberry Marketing Solutions. Micro Grant Impact of ARG Funding in York. Available at: https://blueberryms.co.uk/case-studies/micro-grant-impact-of-arg-funding-in-york/