Business Growth Dorset 2026: support for digital projects

Last checked: October 2026. Business Growth Dorset is the official Growth Hub for Dorset, including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Its website says it is supported and managed by Dorset Council, with core funding from the Department for Business & Trade. Its 2025/26 annual report describes free, impartial business support.

We read the hub's own pages on 20 October 2026. The programmes listed there are advice, training and growth programmes. None of them is a grant for building or redesigning a business website. A website project in Dorset will therefore usually come out of your own budget, but the hub can still save you money before you spend it.

We are based in Poole, which falls within the BCP area that the hub covers, so we have a practical interest in getting this right for local businesses.

The hub's homepage describes it as part of the network of 38 Growth Hubs across England. Growth Hubs are the local delivery partners for the Government's Business Growth Service. They bring national and local offers together and use triage, diagnostics, signposting, brokerage and in-house delivery so that a business finds the right support.

The hub was set up within Dorset Council following the transition from the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership. A Council tender document from April 2025 states that Dorset Council was awarded funding from the Department for Business & Trade to deliver the pan-Dorset Growth Hub for the 2025–2026 financial year. That same document still counted 41 Growth Hubs; the homepage now says 38, so expect figures like this to change.

According to its annual report, the hub offers one-to-one support and diagnostics, digital, phone and in-person support, access to national programmes and referrals to specialist providers. In practice, that makes it a first stop for questions such as: which support exists for my business, who can help with finance, and where do I start with growth plans?

The full annual report (PDF) gives the hub's results for 2025–2026. It supported 706 businesses: 363 through light-touch information and signposting, 267 through medium-intensity diagnostics, brokerage and growth support, and 76 through intensive growth support. It ran 57 events, and 92% of businesses that gave feedback were satisfied or very satisfied.

The report also sets out plans for 2026–2029. They include growing the team from 2 to 3.5 full-time equivalents, adding Business Navigator roles, dedicated telephone access, more one-to-one tailored support and a new Start-Up Accelerator programme.

We could not open Dorset Council's own pages with our checking tool, so we do not quote the hub's budget for the coming years here. For a business owner, the useful point is simpler: the hub is operating, publishes its results and plans more one-to-one support.

On the Start-Up page, the programmes listed are the Business Growth Dorset Accelerator, Kick Off in Business, the Business Academy and a one-day start-up programme run by Evolve. The hub describes the Accelerator as a fully funded programme to help Dorset businesses build stronger foundations for growth. Kick Off in Business is described as a free-to-access short online programme for people starting a business or becoming self-employed in England.

Fully funded means the programme costs you nothing to join. It does not mean the hub pays a supplier to build your website. If someone tells you that Business Growth Dorset will pay for your website, ask them to point you to the current scheme rules on an official page.

Search results for Dorset business support can still surface pages written in the Dorset LEP years. Treat any grant you find there as closed until the hub or the scheme operator confirms it is open today.

In an invitation to quote dated April 2025, published on the WEAF website, Business Growth Dorset asked organisations to bid to deliver three programmes: Scale-Up Finance, Scale-Up Growth and Scale-Up Smart Tech. The Finance strand covered deliverables for the period to 31 March 2026, including help to understand grants, loans and private investment, funding searches, bid-writing support and investment readiness.

The annual report lists those three Scale-Up strands among the targeted programmes delivered in 2025–2026, working with Dorset Chamber, Evolve and SWMAS. Those notices are about who would deliver the programmes, not about what is open to you today.

Today the Scale-Up page lists the Business Academy and the Accelerator as its programmes. We found no 2026/27 details for the three Scale-Up strands. If growth finance or a scale-up pathway matters to you, ask the hub directly.

The hub does not lend or invest itself, but its Finding Finance page lists options it points businesses to. Among them are government-backed Start Up Loans, the British Business Bank, the Department for Business and Trade's Finance Finder Tool and Innovate UK competitions for grant or loan funding. It also lists the South West Investment Fund, described as a £200m fund for smaller businesses across the South West, and FSE Group, which provides loans and equity from £25k to £5m to high growth businesses.

The page adds that the listed resources include both free and chargeable options and that the hub does not endorse the providers. Do your own checks before you sign anything, and compare the cost of finance with what the digital project is expected to earn back.

Free advice is most useful in the weeks before a larger digital spend is committed. A practical way to use it:

1. Describe the problem, not the website. "We lose enquiries because customers cannot book online" is more useful to an adviser than "we need a new site".
2. Ask what support is open now. Programmes change from year to year. The hub can tell you what is live for your sector, size and location.
3. Ask about finance options. Some businesses fund digital work through loans or other products. An adviser can explain what suits your stage.
4. Get a second view on your plan. Share your brief and your quotes and ask whether the scope and timing make sense.
5. Ask what happens after launch. Hosting, updates and content work continue after the build. Plan for them in the budget.

About support

• Which programmes, grants or loans are open to a business like mine at the moment?
• Are any aimed at a specific sector, such as hospitality, manufacturing or professional services?
• Do any pay in advance, or only after the money has been spent?

About your plan

• Is the goal realistic for the budget and timescale?
• What should come first if I cannot afford everything at once?
• What evidence would show that the project worked, such as enquiries, bookings or sales?

Write the answers down and note the date. Programmes in this area change, and a note from last spring may not describe what is open this autumn.

Older pages are the main risk when you search for Dorset business support. Three signs that a page is stale:

• The application deadline is in the past.
• The scheme name no longer matches the current service. The official pan-Dorset Growth Hub is now branded Business Growth Dorset.
• The page lists a phone number or email that appears nowhere on the current official pages.

When in doubt, start from the hub's current website. Treat third-party listings as pointers, not as proof that a scheme is open.

If no funding applies, the question becomes what a sensible budget looks like. Simple presentation and corporate websites start from €300 excluding VAT with us, and the pricing page shows the packages. Agency prices in the UK vary widely, so compare quotes line by line rather than by the headline figure.

Many Dorset businesses do well with a phased approach: a clean, fast site with accurate contact details, services and local information first, then booking or shop features once there is evidence they will be used. You can see what we build on our services page and examples on the references page.

• Your business type, size and how long you have traded.
• The outcome you want, in one sentence.
• Any quotes you have received, with what they include.
• Your budget and when you need the work done.
• The questions you want answered, such as which support is open, whether finance options exist and what to prepare.

The hub's website gives an enquiry form, the phone number 01305 228852 and the email address [email protected] for existing businesses. People who are only planning to start a business are pointed to the national Business Support Service on 0800 998 1098.

If you want a quote broken down into one-off and recurring costs to bring to that conversation, request a quote and tell us what you are planning. You can also reach us through the contact page.

• Business Growth Dorset – home page (about, contact)
• Annual Report 2025/26 – Business Growth Dorset
• Business Growth Dorset Annual Report 2025–2026 (PDF)
• Start-Up programmes – Business Growth Dorset
• Scale-Up programmes – Business Growth Dorset
• Finding Finance – Business Growth Dorset
• Business Growth Dorset Scale-Up invitation to quote – WEAF
• Business Growth Dorset Scale-Up Finance ITQ, April 2025 (PDF)