As of 1 November 2026, 311 schemes are open to businesses in Darlington; 7 of them are only for Darlington or Tees Valley. Updated 1 Nov 2026.
In October 2026, no scheme only for Darlington or Tees Valley opened or closed.
What opened and closed across the North East this monthTalk to someone in Darlington
Schemes for Darlington alone, not for the whole of Tees Valley.
Darlington Borough Council
Darlington Borough Council's business support service for businesses starting, growing and relocating in the borough, offering free, tailored needs analysis and signposting to business support providers.
Schemes for Darlington and other council areas named with it, such as a loan fund for several districts.
North East BIC
Flexible office, coworking, meeting room, lab and industrial workspace for SMEs from £49 per week.
Open to businesses anywhere in Tees Valley, Darlington included.
Enterprise Made Simple
Flexible training programme of up to 16 weeks to build Level 4 advanced digital marketing skills, delivered by Enterprise Made Simple. Open to adults aged 19 and over; fully funded for independent learners and self-employed, 90% funded for small and medium-sized businesses, 70% funded for large businesses.
SWEF
Grants of up to £500 for pre-revenue businesses or up to £2,000 for established businesses, for young people aged 18–30 living in County Durham or Tees Valley.
Tees Valley Combined Authority, Tees Valley Creates
A support service listed by Tees Valley Combined Authority for established businesses, social enterprises and start-ups in the creative, cultural, digital and tech sectors, with help on finance and funding, business planning and networking.
UK Steel Enterprise
Business loans from UKSE for businesses in steel areas, at fixed interest rates: unsecured loans of up to £200,000 for a growing business, or up to £100,000 for a new one, and secured loans.
UK Steel Enterprise
Equity investment from UKSE for businesses in steel areas: up to £1 million on a first round for a growing business, or up to £250,000 for a new one. UKSE takes only minority stakes and rarely asks for personal guarantees.
Business Enterprise Fund
Business Enterprise Fund (BEF) is a not-for-profit social enterprise providing flexible loans to SMEs across the North East and Yorkshire when mainstream lenders cannot fully assist. Start-up loans range from £500 to £25,000, and unsecured growth loans go up to £250,000.
Tees Valley Combined Authority
From 2027, BICS will reduce electricity costs by up to £40 per megawatt hour for eligible manufacturing businesses in the Industrial Strategy's growth sectors and foundational manufacturing industries that meet the relevant electricity intensity threshold. It also exempts eligible businesses from paying the indirect costs of the renewables obligation, capacity market and feed-in tariff.
Mercia
Mercia is a specialist asset manager providing venture, private equity and debt finance to growing regional businesses across the North East and Tees Valley. Its equity investments are typically from £100,000 to £2 million.
Mercia
Mercia Capital, a specialist asset manager, provides equity investments, typically from £100,000 to £2 million, to growing regional businesses at start-up or scale-up stage that cannot be fully funded through conventional borrowing.
NEL Fund Managers
NEL's funds invest in ambitious growing businesses with a finance gap from £25,000, investing up to £2m, and can form part of a larger funding round with other investors.
Business Enterprise Fund
Government-backed Start-up Loans of up to £25,000 with 12 months of free mentoring, delivered by Business Enterprise Fund (BEF) as an approved delivery partner for the Government's Start Up Loans scheme. Aimed at founders who may struggle to access conventional finance.
Local services that help businesses in Darlington. Each number is from the organisation's own website.
Links Tees Valley businesses to support, funding and expertise; officers advise SMEs wanting to grow.
Invest in Darlington (Darlington Borough Council)
Darlington Council's business team: start-up, growth, premises, funding, skills and recruitment advice.
Your chamber of commerce: North East England Chamber of Commerce (0300 303 6322)
For the whole region or the North, Darlington included. The soonest to close first.
Grant · Closes 9 November 2026 (8 days)
Support programme · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Loan · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Support programme · Open all year
Open to businesses across England or the UK, including Darlington.
Open to businesses in Darlington, local and national, soonest first.
What it does, how long it has been going, how many people work there, what it needs help with and what it is looking for: the best matches in Darlington come first.
In-person events in the next 30 days in Darlington, then within about five miles of it. 58 online events are open to anyone.
Thu 12 Nov07:45
The Hardwick Arms Hotel & Bar · about 4 miles outside · Business Durham
Coworking spaces, incubators and workspaces a business can use, and venues to hire for a meeting, training day or event, each from its own website. Those with a known address are dots on the map below.
Workspace · Darlington · Flexible office space from just £42 a week. Meeting rooms from £45 (plus VAT) per hour.
Hot desks, private offices, a virtual office, meeting rooms, training rooms and catering
Workspace · Darlington · Serviced offices from £49 per week, inclusive of heating, water, lighting and high speed internet.
Private offices, hot desks, meeting rooms, training rooms, event space, a virtual office and dedicated desks
Incubator or innovation centre · Darlington · Inspiring workspaces from just £62 per week
Private offices, labs or workshops and meeting rooms
Workspace · Sunderland · Flexible workspace from £49 per week. Coworking hotdesk £65 pcm + VAT. FlexiDesk £100 pcm + VAT.
Hot desks, dedicated desks, private offices, labs or workshops, meeting rooms, a conference hall, outdoor space and catering
Conference centre · Darlington · Conference Suite and Platinum Suite up to 1,000 guests; Function Rooms and Presidents Lounge up to 300 guests
A conference hall and event space
Workspace · Darlington
Private offices, hot desks, meeting rooms, training rooms, event space, a virtual office and dedicated desks
Sports venue · Darlington · Studio accommodates up to 40 people in a range of set-ups.
Meeting rooms, event space, studios and catering
Community venue · Darlington · Conferences for over 250 delegates
Meeting rooms, training rooms, a conference hall, exhibition space, event space, outdoor space, catering and studios
University venue · Middlesbrough · Up to 40 people (theatre layout: 40 people; boardroom layout: 20 people; horseshoe layout: 16 people
Labs or workshops, meeting rooms, training rooms and catering
Workspace · Sunderland · Meeting rooms: Thompson Suite 16, Doxford Suite 6, Menvil Suite 4, Osbourne Suite 4 to 16 per room
Hot desks, dedicated desks, private offices, labs or workshops, meeting rooms, a conference hall, outdoor space and catering
Meeting rooms to hire · Darlington · Up to 140 people in one space when rooms are combined; individual rooms seat from 6 to 100 people
Meeting rooms, training rooms, a conference hall and catering
Event venue · Skybar maximum capacity 60; Goosepool maximum capacity 110; Main Terminal maximum capacity 400
Meeting rooms, event space, a conference hall and catering
No business in Darlington has listed itself yet. Is yours here? List it, free: we read your website to say what you do and put you on the map.
Groups and memberships a business here can join, then the networks and chambers based here.
Membership or network · Open all year
Membership or network · Open all year
Membership or network
Councils first, then the organisations with the most schemes open here.
Darlington is a council area in Tees Valley, in North East England.
Next to it: Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, North Yorkshire
Choose an area on the map to see its page. The dots are its workspaces and venues. Boundaries from the Office for National Statistics.
Local Landscape gathers these details automatically from public web pages, and only some have been checked by a person, so check them with the organisation before you apply. Part of Tees Valley. Show open funding for Darlington on your website. Every area