38% of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are unaware of government grants and schemes designed to help them, according to new research from Aldermore.

The research, which was conducted amongst 300 SME firms throughout the country, also found that 35% of SMEs are aware of government backed schemes but have not applied for any, with only 8% of businesses saying they are planning to apply for a grant or finance scheme in the next 12 months.

“There is clearly a big job to be done in helping ‘time poor’ business owners find out more about government backed schemes designed to help them grow their businesses,” said George Ashworth (pictured), managing director of Aldermore Asset Finance.

“38% of respondents told us they were unaware of how to find out about grants and schemes and a further 55% said they were cynical about them, believing them to be government PR exercises or schemes designed to favour big businesses.”

Research undertaken by Experian also shows that SMEs have a poor level of awareness of government grants and other sources of alternative funding, with just 6% saying they would ask a broker for information.

Ashworth added: “Our research confirms that two-thirds of business-owners turn to the internet as their primary source of information. There is plenty of scope for simplifying and clarifying information about government backed schemes and making this information available online to business owners.”