High Peak Borough Council Business News July 2020

Latest news to help you grow and prosper in the High Peak

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Re-opening for business: Covid-secure guidance, Good to Go and new discretionary grants

As restrictions continue to ease and more and more businesses re-open, there's plenty of support and guidance available to help you operate in a Covid-secure way that gives confidence to your staff and your customers.

The Government has produced 12 guides to cover a range of different types of work. This guidance finder will help you find the information that is most relevant to you.

There's also an online tool employers can share with their teams to help assess their ability to return to work safely.

And to support the NHS test and trace system some businesses, including those below, are being asked to keep a temporary record of customers and visitors for 21 days to help contain clusters or outbreaks:

Hospitality - pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants
Tourism and leisure - hotels, museums and theme parks
Close contact services - hairdressers, barbers and tailors

Read the full guidance.

'Good to Go'

We're 'Good to Go' is the official UK mark to signal that a tourism or hospitality business has put in place Government and industry Covid-19 guidelines. You can download a certificate for your premises and add the logo to your websites. Find out more and apply now.

Discretionary Business Grants - new application round opens at 12pm, Friday 17 July

Following receipt of approximately 225 applications for the discretionary business grant for small businesses, the Council has awarded approximately £1.1 million to provide a lifeline to local businesses who didn't qualify for the Government's small business rates relief or tourism, retail and leisure grants.

A second (and final) application round opens at midday on Friday 17 July and will run until 5pm on Monday 27 July. It is open to locally based firms with fewer than 49 staff including charities, sole traders and home based businesses.

To be eligible you cannot have previously received from the Small Business Rates Relief, Tourism and Leisure grants, or applied under the first call in June. But you can apply if you received funding for furloughing staff or via the self-employment furlough scheme.

Grants of up to £10,000 are available, and in exceptional circumstances £25,000 grants for those firms with 11-49 employees with significant overheads. Home based businesses are eligible for a maximum £1,000 grant. Businesses that are solely concerned with property leasing for domestic or commercial purposes and private rental of your domestic property through Air BnB are excluded.

Find out more and apply.

Tourism businesses can now apply for a free, UK-wide industry standard and consumer mark to reassure your customers that your business adheres to Government and public health guidance.
Apply now.

Register your establishment for Eat-out-to-help-out scheme

The National Careers Service (NCA) and local High Peak Jobcentres are keen to support local businesses & employees especially around redundancies and recruitment.

NCA provides free impartial information, advice and guidance & support with job search, skills analysis, labour market information and career planning Contact
NCA local adviser
Mobile: 07967 391263

Buxton Jobcentre &
Glossop Jobcentre
can guide the employer through the process and the set up virtual meetings with employees to provide information on benefits, which is extremely useful as the majority of employees who may have never been in this situation before. Contact:

Buxton Jobcentre Tel:01298 306929

Glossop Jobcentre Tel: 01457 726785

Business Interruption Loan Scheme
Loans and other kinds of finance up to £5m.

Future Fund
Loans ranging from £125,000 to £5m fund to match funding from private investors.

Bounce Back Loan Scheme
Maximum loan £50,000.

Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme
Rural premises with broadband speeds of less than 100Mbps can use vouchers worth £1,500 per home and up to £3,500 for each small to medium-sized business, including sole traders, to support the cost of installing new fast and reliable connections.

Energy for Business
You can apply for 40% of the costs of an energy-related project or new equipment to grow your business. Up to £8k available to successful applicants.

Check our website for information about other available funding.

C lean Growth Fund - NEW

Funding for companies developing green technologies across a wide range of sectors, including transport, waste and building energy efficiency - from energy storage and smart grid systems to make a more resilient power system, renewable heating and ventilation technologies through to new bio-fuels and bio-energy systems.

Other funding and support to address climate change. Find out more.

Up to £3k for each new apprentice

Businesses will be given up to £2,000 for each new apprentice they hire under the age of 25. This is in addition to the existing £1,000 payment the Government already provides for new 16-18 year old apprentices and those aged under 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Find out more or contact Buxton and Leek College.

Webinar: Future mobility export opportunities in the German market
Get the latest development including the recently announced German Government incentives for electric and hybrid vehicles buyers and cross-sector tax reductions.
Wednesday 22 July, 10am - 11am

Business to Business for Buxton
Virtual Zoom meetings - email Paul Wyatt for an invite.
Monday 27 July, 10am - 11am

DIARY DATE: Glossop Business Expo
Friday 9 October

High Peak Borough Council and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, working as a Strategic Alliance, source a variety of suppliers, services and works for both Councils.

Pavilion Gardens car park repair
Closing date: Wednesday 22 July at noon.

Green Bank Walkway, Hadfield
Closing date: Friday 31 July at noon.

Check regularly to see what's available.

Need to restart your trade waste collection?

If you're re-opening your business and need to re-start your suspended trade waste collections don't forget to let us know!

Please contact us in advance of your first collection so we can let our crews know - any delay risks missed collections.

You can also let us know if you want to amend or suspend your contract. Contact us.

Business Helpline Tel: 0333 006 9178