Guidance/Updates for Business
Bounce Back Loan
The Government has published details of the Bounce Back Loan scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000.
The government guarantees 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months.
Loan terms will be up to 6 years. No repayments will be due during the first 12 months. The government will work with lenders to agree a low rate of interest for the remaining period of the loan.
The scheme will be delivered through a network of accredited lenders.
Eligibility
You can apply for a loan if your business:
- is based in the UK
- has been negatively affected by coronavirus
- was not an ‘undertaking in difficulty’ on 31 December 2019
Who cannot apply:
- The following businesses are not eligible to apply:
- banks, insurers and reinsurers (but not insurance brokers)
- public-sector bodies
- state-funded primary and secondary schools
- If you’re already claiming funding
You cannot apply if you’re already claiming under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
If you’ve already received a loan of up to £50,000 under CBILS and would like to transfer it into the Bounce Back Loan scheme, you can arrange this with your lender has been extended until 31 January 2021.
Full details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-coronavirus-bounce-back-loan
Business Lincolnshire Event Search
Find business events in Lincolnshire – https://www.businesslincolnshire.com/events
Funding to support Community Business affected by the coronavirus (England)
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Power to Change have launched a £12 million crisis support package to provide immediate and medium-term support for community businesses supporting the vulnerable and isolated in England. The emergency package includes £7 million in rescue funding, which offers grants of up to £25,000 to contribute to trading incomes losses incurred between April and June 2020. This will initially be available to current and previous Power to Change grantees, and to community businesses which are members of Co-operatives UK, Locality and Plunket Foundation. £5 million in recovery funding will be made available later in the year to help rebuilding and recovery. The support package will be open for applications from the 11th May 2020. https://www.powertochange.org.uk/get-support/covid-19/
HM Support Website Link
A full range of business support measures have been made available to UK businesses and employees – here is the link for more information – https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support
Introducing 'The Lincs Pass'
Heritage Lincolnshire have partnered up with the creator of the East Anglia Pass on an exciting new concept for the Lincolnshire County.
The East Anglian Pass has a huge following down South in places such as Essex and Suffolk, and we hope to continue this throughout Lincolnshire with the aim to increase the local economy within the county, supporting small and local businesses and encouraging people to visit us.
So what is the Lincolnshire Pass?
The concept of the pass is that it is free for any business to be included. You can be anything from an attraction, venue, cafe, shop, therapists, eateries, accommodation, or business to be included onto the pass but you need to have be able to have an offer to give to the customers. This could be anything from a 2 for 1 offer, to discount off a product or services you supply. There is no catch, no tie in’s, and you can change your offer when you wish to in line with your business operations.
We already have some huge high street brands such as Carluccio’s, Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Prezzo and Go Ape that are signed up, but as Heritage Lincolnshire we are extremely keen to promote the Lincolnshire independent and small businesses and get people to come along to buy from you!
The more businesses close to each other that are on the Pass, the more we can promote your location as we can suggest a full day schedule, and as we grow a few days including over-night stays. Not every business has a large marketing budget available to them, however working together to promote the county and it’s businesses means we can really put us on the map!
To purchase the pass as a customer and open the door to the discounts across the county, it is just £9.99 for the year, and with that you are supporting ourselves as a local charity. You will get a member’s card to put in your pocket to show businesses when you arrive to receive their offer. The Lincs Pass website is available and shows you all the businesses that are on the pass as well as an app to download for when you are out and about!
The app is the best that we have seen when it comes to travelling about and includes push notifications within a certain distance if you are passing by, showing you and your offer and also maps to show where there is within so many miles of where you at. The best thing is they pop up as brown tourism signs!
Ourselves at Heritage Lincolnshire have decided to partner with the creators of the East Anglia Pass, to create the first ever county wide pass and encourage people to move about the county, enjoying everything it has to offer. We have so much and we do not shout enough about it; so let’s do it together!
At present we do not have anything like this for the county so it is amazing to be able to work on something this exciting and get some amazing places, like yourselves on to it and start to work together!
To express your interest please go to https://lincspass.com/ or email lincs-pass@heritagelincolnshire.org to discuss further.
Mental Health Support
Valuable resources to support your mental health during this difficult time.
Peer to Peer Network
The programme’s longer-term aims are focused on reducing the UK productivity gap by helping business leaders find practical solutions to strategic and operational challenges. It also forms part of the UK Government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing EU transition, seeking to improve the resilience of SMEs, their capability to adapt their business models to the “new normal” and position themselves for future success, driving longer-term productivity gains
Active involvement in the peer network will enhance the leadership capabilities, knowledge and confidence of business owners and entrepreneurs within a local region. It will help build regional connectivity and strength within the SME business community.
The business criteria for entry is:
- Turnover of £100k+
- 5 or more employees (they do not need to be full time but they cannot be temp or short term contracts)
- Operating for 1 year +
- An aspiration to improve
- Based in the Greater Lincolnshire area.
Criteria has been amended to allow for 30% of the businesses on the programme to have a minimum of 2 employees or more and 70% of the businesses enrolled on the programme are to have 5 employees or more.
The programme will be aimed at managers / owners / decision makers of the business and will consist of 18hrs of action learning. Spread out over a number of sessions. At most we will host 9 x 2hrs sessions. This is flexible dependant on cohort requirements, they can also host some 3hrs sessions reducing the number of overall sessions. This is to be agreed with the participants once the sessions begin.
As well as the 18hrs programme, the participants will be eligible for 3.5hrs 1:1 support covering a variety of topics that may not be covered during the programme or that they require particular support with.
This 1:1 support can span a variety of topics from HR, Finance, Marketing, Leadership, Managing your team remotely, Business structure, Management Accounting etc…
They are currently recruiting businesses onto the programme with the intention to start it as soon as possible. Realistically by the ned Nov/ Start Dec.
We have until the end of March 2021 to deliver the programme.
Speak to a Local Business Advisor
To arrange to speak to a local business adviser call the local Covid-19 helpline 01522 782189 or email businesslincolnshire@lincolnshire.gov.uk or visit the website https://www.businesslincolnshire.com/