Funding from the EU: guidance for business
Find out how the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) impacts the funding your business receives from the EU.
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into effect on 1 January 2021. Funding from the EU has supported a wide range of businesses across many sectors. The Horizon 2020 programme alone has provided UK organisations with over €5.5bn of funding for research and innovation projects and there has been an agreement to continue this cooperation in principle.
The guidance on this page represents the information currently available from government. The CBI will update this page as new information is released.
Key challenges for business
How will the end of transition impact business’ access to funding from the EU?
Under the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK will continue to participate in programmes funded under the current 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) until their closure.
Ongoing projects will continue to receive EU funding for the full duration of the funding programme’s lifetime, including those where funding runs beyond 2020 and the end of the transition period. Read guidance on specific funding programmes.
The UK has secured association to Horizon Europe, which will run from 2021 to 2027 but this is still to be ratified. Association to Horizon Europe would give UK scientists, researchers and businesses access to funding under the programme on equivalent terms as organisations in EU countries. Once overall deal has been ratified by all sides and the Horizon Europe programme regulations have been finalised there will be a formal process between the UK and the EU to conclude the association agreement. The business community continues to see association with Horizon Europe as the priority. Any further delays to finalising association run the risk of deterring businesses from applying to Horizon funding and compounding uncertainty regarding the nature of international research and innovation partnerships. The European Commission has published a useful FAQ on the UK's association with Horizon Europe.
The CBI will continue to update this page as new information emerges.
Will UK businesses be able to participate in new EU grant programmes?
Organisations will be unable to apply for funding from 2021-2028 EU programmes that are only open to EU member states, such as EU Structural and Investment funds.
Whilst the UK has secured association to Horizon Europe, the agreement states that UK-based companies will not be allowed to compete for financing in the European Innovation Council’s accelerator fund.