Dear Haringey Business Owner,

Welcome to Haringey Council’s Business Bulletin.

This week’s edition will focus on our newly launched Business Brexit Advice Service; COVID-19 early outbreak action cards; clarification of the rules for click and collect; the London Business Hub's ‘Recover and Grow’ programme; the Haringey Digital Divide Appeal; and an opportunity for you to have your say in how we run our business services.

We will also provide some key information on mass testing in Haringey and the importance of being vaccinated.

This bulletin is compiled by the council’s Economic Development Team. Please do let us know if we can help you directly, or if we can lobby the Government on your behalf to provide further support relevant to your business’s situation.

We hope that you find the bulletin useful and welcome your feedback – we have a dedicated business support team who are available at business@haringey.gov.uk

For enquiries regarding the latest regulations and staying open, please email us at covid19concerns@haringey.gov.uk

For specific enquiries, please contact the relevant team:

• Business Grants:
  LRSG@haringey.gov.uk
• Business Rates: 
  business.rates@haringey.gov.uk
• Commercial Property rented from the council:
  commercial.rent@haringey.gov.uk

Mass testing for critical and customer-facing staff

As many as one in three people who have COVID-19 don’t show any of the symptoms, yet they can still pass it on to their friends, family, loved ones and customers.

We would like to let you know that we now have rapid COVID-19 testing sites in the borough and we are encouraging staff in customer facing roles and critical workers to be tested regularly.

See a useful list of those designated as ‘critical workers’.

These tests are for people who are asymptomatic – that is they do not show any signs of having COVID-19.

These rapid tests (also known as lateral flow tests) can identify people who have it even if they don’t show the signs such as a high temperature, or a new and constant cough, or a loss or change to their sense of smell or taste. By identifying those infected we can help curb the spread of the virus.

The centres are at the following locations:

• Tottenham Community Sports Centre, 701-703 High Road, N17 8AD 
• 48 Station Road, Wood Green, N22 7TY

They are operational and 5 days a week and will be open as follows:

• Tuesday to Friday: 12pm-7pm
• Saturdays: 10am-5pm
• Sunday and Monday: closed.

Please note: timings are subject to change and are being tailored to help meet demand. More information can be found on our COVID-19 testing in Haringey page.

Any essential or key workers can get a lateral flow test up to twice a week.
If you have symptoms you must book a test by calling NHS 119 or by booking online.

Get a free NHS test to check if you have coronavirus.

Despite the new national lockdown, you may still leave home to get a COVID-19 test, as well as for medical appointments and emergencies.

Getting tested helps protect our families, our friends, our communities and our customers.

COVID-19 vaccination programme

Vaccines are our best defence against the virus helping to protect our friends, families and loved ones.

The COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the UK are Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Moderna. All three vaccines have undergone the usual safety, quality and effectiveness testing and have been shown to offer high levels of protection against COVID-19.  

The process of bringing the vaccine into use was sped up by the amount of money that has been spent to develop them and because many of the administrative hurdles have been cleared because of the urgency of the pandemic. No corners have been cut.

Another factor helping them be developed so quickly was that the COVID-19 vaccines were able to build on the work that was already being carried out by scientists on other Coronavirus vaccines. By using these as a starting point, scientists were able to adapt their work to deal with COVID-19.

They were also helped by the large number of men and women coming forward to test them. Usually recruiting volunteers for vaccine trials can take many months. So people taking the vaccine now can rest assured that they have already been tested – and proved to be safe - on others.

That means getting a COVID-19 vaccine will:

• work with your immune system so it will be ready to fight the virus if you are exposed
• help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19
• help protect people around you from COVID-19, particularly the vulnerable.

You can find more information on the COVID-19 vaccination programme as well as details of mass testing facilities currently available for businesses in different languages at our dedicated COVID-19: Resources for businesses webpage.

We will shortly be distributing posters to businesses around the borough containing information relating to the vaccination and mass testing facilities in the area. We would be grateful if you can share this information to your customers, staff and suppliers, for example by putting the posters up in shop windows. These measures will help with the uptake in both mass testing and vaccination and ultimately help us to come out of lockdown.

COVID-19 early outbreak management action cards

COVID-19 early outbreak management information has been created to make sure that people who run businesses or organisations:

• know how to recognise and report an incident of coronavirus (COVID-19)
• are aware of measures local health protection teams may advise in order to contain it

This information is contained within ‘action cards’ that have been designed for specific situations where an outbreak could occur. This could be a restaurant or office, a construction site or a place of worship.

The action cards provide instructions to anyone responsible for a business or organisation on what to do in the event of one or more confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in your organisation.

These quick-reference guides provide key steps to help you quickly identify, report and respond to any potential COVID-19 outbreak within your local community. A COVID-19 outbreak is more than one confirmed case of COVID-19. Depending on the type of organisation, this may also include ‘possible’ cases of COVID-19.

They complement existing outbreak control guidance, and signpost to other useful information to help business owners and managers fully understand their responsibilities in the event of an outbreak of COVID-19.

To access more information, refer to the guidance below or search the titles on GOV.UK:

• Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)
• COVID-19: cleaning in non-healthcare organisations outside the home
• NHS Test and Trace service in the workplace
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): safer travel guidance for passengers

Click and collect advice for businesses

Non-essential retail shops must remain closed. However, they are permitted to continue providing a click and collect service. Businesses operating a click and collect service must adhere to the following rules:

• Collections take place OFF the premises
• The customer DOES NOT enter the business premises for any part of the transaction

Running a click and collect service in a busy high street is very different from supermarkets and shops in retail parks. The following advice aims to provide retail businesses with best practice advice on running a click and collect service that:

• Keeps staff and customers safe
• Maintains social distancing
• Helps reduce the anxiety caused to customers of a number of businesses all competing for the public space outside shops.

To make sure click and collect facilities can operate on an appointment-only basis it is recommended that businesses should apply the following principles:

• Retailers and customers are encouraged to use online ordering and delivery as the first choice as it will limit social interactions and contacts
• Retailers who do not have an online facility should consider potential of phoned-in or text ordering
• Collections are required to be by appointment only and should be scheduled to make sure there is no customer to customer contact and no queuing
• Allocate time slots which will allow them to manage a reasonable number of people per hour
• Design their click and collect system to avoid/ reduce shared contact surfaces
• Continue to frequently clean any shared surfaces that are unavoidable and increase the use of hands-free technology to deliver their services.

See here for further information and additional guidance for customers.

Brexit Business Advice Service - FREE hands-on support for Haringey companies

We have launched a Business Brexit Advice Service to provide free hands-on support for Haringey businesses, to guide them through the changes they will need to make in a post Brexit business environment. This service will be delivered by EU experts with a wealth of experience in EU-UK trade.

Sietske de Groot is one of the consultants who will be delivering our Brexit support.

Sietske is an EU and regulation expert, market access adviser, trainer and speaker on EU-UK trade and political issues. She directs a consultancy that specialises in helping UK organisations with new regulation, in particular regarding the UK’s changing relationship with the European Single Market. Sietske helps to translate regulation terminology and other technical market access barriers into plain English, so that businesses can respond when regulation, or whole market access terms, are changing.

To receive free bespoke Brexit business support from Sietske and her colleagues, please complete our short Brexit Business support questionnaire.

You will be contacted once you submit the form.

London Business Hub: New Recover and Grow programme

As a business owner, it is important to equip yourself not only with the knowledge and skills to deal with current challenges, but also a clear vision of where you want to take your business in the future – and how to get there.

Recover & Grow, the new initiative from the London Business Hub and The Business School will help you strengthen your business, build your resilience and set the foundations to grow. The free, intensive six-week course is designed to fit in with the busiest of schedules.

You will learn from the best minds at a leading business school, pick up practical knowledge on finance, technology and changing markets and build a network with fellow business owners and entrepreneurs. You will also come away with a tailored action plan for growing your business based on your own challenges and aspirations.

The programme is open to applications until 31 January 2021. Learn more and apply here.

Have your say on how we run our business services

We would love to hear from some of our business customers to help us to improve our service.

If you run a business in Haringey and want to tell what you think, this is your chance to get involved. We will be running a number of engagement events to give you the opportunity to share your experiences. This might involve:

• a telephone interview to tell us about your experiences when contacting the council
• an online workshop
• simply sending us an email to tell us what we could do better.

If you would like to get involved then please send your contact details via email to customer.first@haringey.gov.uk and we will be in touch.

Haringey Digital Divide Appeal

Despite the best efforts of our schools in Haringey and the local authority, we know there are a number of children and young people who don’t have regular access to laptops, WiFi and other technological support at home.

These children and young people have faced additional challenges to those of their classmates since the onset of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but with your help and support we can help bridge that digital divide.

Haringey Giving has partnered with Haringey Council to launch the ‘Help Bridge the Digital Divide’ campaign in support of children and young people in the borough who don’t have access to laptops, WiFi and other technological support.

Please give whatever you can afford, however small or large. It could make a whole world of difference to a young person here in our borough.

This is what your donation could give a young person:

• £20 - One month’s supply of internet access/ WiFi
• £40 - A mobile broadband device
• £60 - One month’s supply of internet access/ WiFi + a mobile broadband device
• £250 - A basic specification laptop, with carrier case and accessories

Any donation is gratefully received and will go a long way to helping bridge the digital divide for children and young people across Haringey.

COVID-19: Conflict and Safety webinar

As businesses work even harder to suppress the virus and keep people safe, Safer Business Network launches a new webinar.

With speakers from Safer Business Network, Met Police and Environmental Health this webinar will:

1. Explore what conflict is and how to manage conflict
2. Summarise key safety procedures in relation to COVID-19
3. Understand the Police approach to enforcement

You will also have the opportunity to ask the panel of experts any questions that you may have.

• When: Thursday 21 January 2021, 12.30 – 1.30pm
• Location: Online event

 Book your FREE online place now.

Tax Resolute and London Business Hub

Haringey businesses can register for free to attend this webinar hosted by expert Jesminara Rahman of Tax Resolute Limited.

You will find out how to safeguard your business from tax investigations and queries on coronavirus payment schemes. HMRC has already started contacting businesses in relation to furlough claims and will be starting a more vigorous campaign in 2021 to pursue repayment of over-claimed grants.

This webinar will help you to safeguard your business and get back on the right track.

• When: 21 January 2021, 4.30pm – 5.30pm
• Location: Online event

To register your interest please send an email to: nina@taxresolute.com

London Business Hub Property Advice Service

The London Business Hub are running a series of FREE webinars and one to ones, with advice on business rates, leases, landlord negotiations and finding commercial premises.

• When: 9 February and 9 March 2021, 10.30am – 12:30pm
• Location: Online event

Register for this event.

And finally...

Please get in touch if you have any further questions, if you are experiencing difficulties and need to reach out, or if you would like to know about wider business support that is on offer.

You can email our Business Support Team at business@haringey.gov.uk

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The council will be regularly updating our website and sending email newsletters to keep residents and businesses up to date with developments around COVID-19 and updates that could impact our community.

Please encourage friends and family to visit our website and sign up to the newsletter, so they too can stay connected with what's happening in our borough.