£18.3 million of grant funding for Tees Valley Lithium

Tees Valley Lithium (TVL), a UK battery materials manufacturer, wanted to build lithium processing capability in the UK battery supply chain. Its route to funding was the government's Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF).

An ATF application has to show government why the project needs funding, through a clear counterfactual. It also has to line up across the form, the financial model and the appendices, with every figure traceable to evidence. Grant administrators expect that rigour, and clients struggle to produce it alone. TVL asked us to get its full application ready for assessment.

We supported TVL's full application from end to end. We drafted, structured and collated it for the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), setting out the "with grant" and "without grant" cases from TVL's own counterfactuals.

We validated the model outputs and jobs figures, checked the submission against ATF eligibility and subsidy control requirements, and tested the timeline and forecasts for consistency. We did not audit the model. We also described governance and controls for a project of this scale, and coordinated clarifications with DBT and the Automotive Propulsion Centre (APC).

We knew the ATF process well and had worked with the APC's Grant Administrator before, so we knew where assessors would focus.

TVL received an offer in principle letter for £18.3 million of grant funding. We guided it to a grant request in line with what DBT and the APC expect, with a clear, evidenced position behind it. Every figure traced back to TVL's model and exhibits, so assessors could review the application efficiently.

TVL is a strategically important UK battery supply chain project. As it moves from funding to delivery, we see a natural opportunity to keep supporting it, with our grant due diligence work and with R&D Tax and Assurance colleagues.