Businesses across Shropshire can certify to Cyber Essentials for a quarter of the usual price under a government fund that opened on 3 November, and which closes at the end of March 2027 or when the money runs out, whichever comes first.


The Cyber Essentials First Step Fund puts £2.4 million behind first-time certification for micro, small and medium-sized UK businesses, bringing the cost down to between £80 and £125 plus VAT depending on the size of the organisation. The Government expects around 6,000 businesses nationally to use it, against a UK business population of more than five million, and places are allocated first come, first served.

Eligibility is straightforward. The organisation must be UK based, must fall within the micro, small or medium size bands, and must not have held Cyber Essentials certification in the previous four years. Applications go through IASME, which runs the scheme on behalf of the National Cyber Security Centre, and the discount still applies when a business certifies through a Certification Body of its own choosing.

Albrighton based Solusec, an appointed Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Certification Body, says two points are being lost in the coverage.

The first is that the funding pays for the assessment and, if it is passed, the certificate. It does not guarantee a pass, so a business that applies before checking its own controls can spend its funded attempt on an assessment it was never going to clear.

The second is that the discount covers Cyber Essentials only, not Cyber Essentials Plus. Where a contract or a tender asks specifically for Plus, the technical audit that follows is a separate piece of work and is not funded.
There is also a benefit that is easy to overlook. Certification carries up to £25,000 of cyber liability insurance at no extra cost for UK organisations with a turnover under £20 million, provided the whole organisation is in scope and the cover is taken up at the point of certification.

A second and larger scheme sits alongside it. Up to £7 million is available until March 2029 for SME suppliers nominated by organisations that have signed the Government’s Cyber Resilience Pledge, covering certification in full along with Cyber Advisor support. Members who supply larger organisations may be nominated rather than having to apply.

Daly Whyte, director of Solusec, said:
“Six thousand certificates nationally is not many, and the money goes to whoever gets there first. The businesses that miss out will not be the ones that decided against it. They will be the ones that meant to look at it in January. Most organisations are closer to passing than they expect, but the gap is usually in the same two places, multi-factor authentication and unsupported software, and both take longer to put right than the paperwork does.”

Solusec assesses and issues certificates itself rather than passing the work to a third party, and is a signatory to the Government’s Cyber Resilience Pledge.

Full details of the fund are on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-essentials-funding-package/cyber-essentials-funding-package


Shropshire businesses that would like to check whether they qualify, or find out what to put right first, can register interest and get advice on next steps using the contact form at https://solusec.co.uk/ or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.