A few weeks ago the Government passed The Business and Planning Act 2020 which simplified and streamlined the process for businesses such as cafes, restaurants and bars to get a licence to place furniture on the pavement. This was to help these hospitality businesses make the best use of their available space given that many are likely to have had to reduce the number of covers inside to comply with social distancing.
The administration of these new licences falls to us at the District Council and we made the decision not to charge for them. The licences are easy to apply for, the process is quick and they are free. We have already processed and approved several.
All businesses that have furniture on the pavement will need a licence. Please can I therefore encourage any businesses that have not applied yet to do so - as I said previously the process is simple and free, and our licencing team are here to help.
Applications for the second and final round of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme are now open. To make a claim for the second and final grant your business must have been affected on or after 14 July 2020.
All of the following must also apply:
you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust. This grant is administered by HMRC. Please see the scheme website for more details.
Innovate UK's Smart grants help turn game-changing ideas into commercial successes. They are for new products, processes or services with high potential for commercialisation. Ideas can be at any stage of development from feasibility testing to development and prototyping. The grants are for between £25,000 and £2m to cover up to 70% of costs for projects lasting from 6 months to 3 years. The grants are open to businesses of any size and you can choose to work alone or collaborate.
The scheme opens on Friday 28 August and there is an online briefing for interested parties on Thursday 03 September. Please see the Innovate UK website for further details.
Some manufacturing business could save up to 25% on their energy bill by making energy saving upgrades. Smarter Choices is a new government funded initiative, simplifying the process for SMEs with an energy spend of over £20,000 per year to reduce carbon and improve their bottom line without upfront investment.
Please see the Smarter Choices website to find out more and get started with a free, no obligation energy assessment.
The final round of the Culture Recovery Fund is open and will enable cultural organisations that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis to stay afloat.
This programme is open to arts and cultural organisations, including charitable and non-profit organisations as well as private organisations and commercial for-profit ventures. Deadline for applications is 12pm (midday), Friday 04 September. Please see the Arts Council website for further details.
'Business Companion' is a website sponsored by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and BEIS to give free, impartial trading standards guidance for businesses. They have recently published a simplified guide for retailers on how to operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please see the Business Companion website for the guide.
OxLEP has created a new 'Business support finder' tool. IT is an interactive form that takes 5 minutes to complete and results in a bespoke support plan for your business.
Buying local is the best way to support the local economy. Several local businesses stock a wide range of 'back to work' products including PPE, sanitising equipment and signage.
We are more than happy to add other local suppliers to the list - please let us know at business@westoxon.gov.uk.
Other helpful organisations
Several business groups are coming up trumps with help and advice for businesses. The ones below are good but do also check the trade association for your own sector.
Enterprise Nation - a vibrant community of small businesses and business advisers with a website packed full of resources
UK Hospitality - represents the broad hospitality sector – covering everything from bars, coffee shops, contract catering, hotels, nightclubs, visitor attractions and other leisure venues
MD2MD - helps managing directors compare notes on business MD to MD. Now operating online with a free trial period for qualifying business leaders.
Summary of business support
The Government's business support website sets out the full range of business support measures that have been made available to UK businesses and employees.
Please forward this email to others to whom this might be useful and encourage them to sign up to further updates. Please note that you can access previous editions of this newsletter too.
The council Coronavirus web pages have updates about business support, communities and leisure, bins and recycling, elections and council meetings, planning, building and council news.
We hope you found this newsletter useful. We would like them to be as relevant as possible so please let us know what you think and don’t forget to send us your news to business@westoxon.gov.uk