Evaluation of the Create Growth Programme (CGP) 2022 to 2024
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-20)

Frontier Economics' independent evaluation of the CGP, which provides a bespoke package of finance, business support and investor capacity building to support creative businesses in England.

The Create Growth Programme (CGP) is an initiative launched in late 2022 to support the development of businesses in the creative industries with high-growth potential. The CGP provides a bespoke package of finance, business support and investor capacity building to support creative businesses in particular areas of England.

This report presents the main findings of an independent evaluation of the CGP. The evaluation includes a process evaluation and an impact evaluation. The process evaluation provides insight on the effectiveness of the design of the CGP, and what has worked well and less well in delivery so far. The impact evaluation examines what changes have occurred as a result of the CGP and whether the programme has achieved (or looks set to achieve) its intended outcomes.

Policy overview

The Create Growth Programme (CGP) is an initiative to support high growth potential creative businesses in 12 areas around England. It consists of 3 strands:

Finance: Grants and investor partnerships.

Business support: Local programmes of workshops, mentoring and networking for participating businesses.

Investor support: Activities to inform investors about the creative industries and connect investors and businesses.

Evaluation methodology

The evaluation triangulates evidence from multiple different methodologies to yield robust and comprehensive evidence on the short-term impacts of the CGP:
- Comparing outcomes before and after CGP support
- ‘Difference-in-differences’ comparing changes in outcomes for those with different CGP support or no support
- Self-reported impacts
- In-depth qualitative perspectives
This included:
- Survey data at two time points from 134 businesses
- Monitoring data on 94 grant recipients
- Interviews and focus groups with 51 businesses, 15 delivery partners and 6 investor stakeholders
Key findings

Has the CGP increased investment readiness?

The CGP increased businesses’ self-awareness and understanding of finance:
- 85% self-reported that the CGP increased their confidence in their business offer
- 60% reported a positive impact on their understanding of investment
But increased confidence does not appear to have increased demand for equity finance:
- Proportion likely to seek equity investment is similar before and after CGP support.
The likelihood that those seeking finance are able to secure investment may have increased: - More businesses have a business plan after CGP support

It remains to be seen whether the CGP has had an impact on equity investment in future.

Has the CGP increased investor willingness to invest?

Little evidence of any substantive change in willingness to invest in creative businesses among investors due to the CGP

Few investors engaged with the programme.

Has the CGP increased business growth?

The CGP has increased innovation within supported businesses:
- 36% of businesses strongly agreed that the CGP led to new products
- 39% of businesses strongly agreed that the CGP led to new business models
Innovation can be expected to support increased business growth in future:
- 81% of grant recipients expected their achieved innovations to increase sales revenue, and 35% expected reduced costs.
It remains to be seen whether these expected impacts of CGP on business growth are realised.

Has the CGP built local capacity for supporting the creative industries?

The CGP has increased local networking among creative businesses.
- Two-thirds of businesses formed a new collaboration or partnership due to CGP.
There are perceptions of small improvements in local understanding and supporting infrastructure.