2019 Recommendations

1.

A verification process with Government should be created to allow for local and national stakeholders to verify the ‘Scaleup status’ of a business, building on the recent work of the ScaleUp Institute with Government. This should tap into datasets that combine ONS, Companies House and HMRC datapoints to enable stakeholders to fast track solutions to scaleup leaders.

If necessary, legislation should be passed to enable this strategy to be implemented effectively and be factored into any future data strategy. In the meantime, the scaleup data pilots initiated with Government should be continued.

2.

A ‘Scaleup Visa’ should be made available in communities where there are 100+ scaleup companies to enable scaleup leaders, across all sectors, to recruit the staff they need to increase their capacity to grow. The Government should make the international skills needs of scaling businesses a priority. Local authorities, education establishments, advisory and finance companies should be able to be sponsors of such.

3.

Funding for local communities should continue to be tied to the effective deployment of initiatives that close the scaleup gap as well as the results and impacts that they have on the number of scaleup businesses in their area. Every local area should have a scaleup strategy, including an access to markets strategy for scaling businesses. A scaleup cluster map should be developed based on currently available datasets.

4.

All local communities should appoint a Scaleup Champion and develop a relationship management structure for scaleup businesses.

5.

The next Government – in any initiatives and Comprehensive Spending Review – should ensure that funding for impactful business support (whether it be mentors, leadership or networks) has a significant focus and segmentation towards our scaleup businesses, which are generators of wealth, exports and productivity to the UK economy. No gap in scaleup support provision is allowed to arise in light of the UK’s changing relationship with the EU.

6.

We recommend that Central Government implements its export strategy and ensures a significant portion of resources to scaleups, including the EITA service and trade missions for scaleups. All local areas should be encouraged to set up a local exchange programme for scaling businesses, such as that developed by the Mayoral ‘Go to Grow’ campaign in London.

7.

We recommend that public bodies use the Visible Scaleup Public Procurement Index to further improve their understanding and reporting on the procurement from UK scaleups, including scaling businesses not yet visible at Companies House.

All public bodies should improve the way opportunities are promoted to scaleup companies by significantly raising the visibility of procurement champions and ensuring their roles have objectives and measurements. The Government should continue the evolution of Contracts Finder to become a smart platform and continue to develop more scaleup specific ‘meet the buyer’ events working with local areas and build on the current work underway as regards sandbox environments.

8.

Large companies should report on the level of collaboration and procurement they source from scaleup companies. Any procurement contracts with Government should require an increase in the amount of business undertaken with scaleups as part of the contracting process which should be monitored.

9.

The Department for Education, Local Enterprise Partnerships and the Careers & Enterprise Company should use their convening and promotional power to ensure that students at schools, colleges and universities come into contact with business leaders and that APIs to the National Pupils database and the destinations database (with suitable protections) are made available so that the impact of these interventions can be measured.

The public, private and education sector should continue to work together to close the gap on provision of high-quality flexible scaleup leadership programmes, including mentoring, peer networks and matchmaking of non-executive directors who have scaled businesses before. Better connections should also continue to be made between national programmes and local ecosystem leaders.

10.

Government and industry ensure progress is made closing the finance gap for scaleups by continuing the work to implement the Patient Capital Review. Growth finance to be included as core curriculum in all local scaleup leadership programmes enabling them to seek out and secure the most appropriate funding at each stage of their company’s growth. The status of current EU sources of funding needs to be monitored, and replaced as appropriate.