 A living wage for a fairer Newham
Paying the London Living wage is at the heart of Building a Fairer Newham. That is why we are a Living Wage employer.
Living Wage Week took place 14-18 November as the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement. This year, with prices rising at their highest rate in decades and causing the cost-of-living crisis, the real Living Wage is more important than ever. The campaign for a real Living Wage has delivered over £2billion in extra wages to workers since it began in 2001 and has lifted almost 400,000 people out of in-work poverty.
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz hosted Newham employers and Royal Docks interns at the Silver Building in the Royal Docks during National Living Wage Week. The event was to share and highlight to businesses and their staff the benefits of becoming London Living Wage accredited. The above picture shows employers and interns at the event.
Since Newham Council was accredited as a Living Wage Employer in 2021 we have:
- Launched our three year action plan to establish the Royal Docks as the first Living Wage Place in London by 2025.
- Revised our procurement procedures, so that its service contractors commit to paying the London Living Wage at the first legal opportunity.
- Continued to work closely with our schools to encourage them to uplift their staff to the London Living Wage.
- Continued to champion good employment practices and the Living Wage through Our Newham Pledge, which encourages businesses to commit to the principles of community wealth building and become Living Wage accredited.
For more information about getting accredited:
A rising star!
Ruqayyah Khankhara (left), a laboratory analyst who began her career with Tate & Lyle Sugars as a Royal Docks Intern, won The Rising Star Award at the 2022 Society of Food Hygiene & Technology Awards on 17 November. This award recognises people who have demonstrated commitment, enthusiasm and potential for the future. Congratulations Ruqayyah. We are proud of you!
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Supporting our business community
We recognise the critical importance of small businesses to the community and local economy. Every year we help to promote Small Business Saturday, which is a national campaign to celebrate all that’s best about local small shops, business enterprises and traders – whether you're a family business, wholesaler, service provider, small manufacturer or purely in e-commerce, Small Business Saturday will help you promote your business.
In the run-up to the busy pre-Christmas shopping period, small businesses across Newham can benefit from Small Business Saturday on 3 December. You can do this by signing up to the small business finder, downloading the official marketing pack and taking maximum advantage of this campaign, which aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses.
Newham shoppers are urged to choose local and spend local for their shopping and to share their shopping experience on their social media using #SmallBizSatUK #NewhamBiz
 Free three month pop-up retail space opportunity
If you're a small local creative or business which is interested in setting up temporary residence at Brunel Street in Canning Town, then Projekt would love to hear from you.
Projekt is an accredited Our Newham Pledge Partner and is offering a three month rotating pop-up retail space free of charge. By doing this they are supporting and helping local businesses to grow and therefore championing community wealth building.
For more information:
 £20,000 prizes available in Mayor of London’s competition
Applications have opened for the 2023 the Mayors Entrepreneur Programme and will close on 12 February 2023.
The Mayor’s Entrepreneur Programme aims to create growth that makes London cleaner, greener and ready for the future. It also aims to ensure that students see entrepreneurship as a viable career path and get the skills they need to succeed.
There are four awards in the competition, with each of the winners receiving £20,000 to start up their business along with expert mentoring from staff at City Hall to get their idea to market. The award categories are:
- Creative Industries
- Environment
- Health
- Tech.
We encourage recent graduates or current students from either college or university to apply. Group applications are welcome.
For more information and to submit an application:
 Christmas is fast approaching and this year it will be more challenging for many as a result of the cost of living crisis. Against this backdrop, Newham Council is keen to bring communities together at Christmas.
Therefore, the Council is organising a boroughwide campaign called We are Together at Christmas, the main feature of which is Big Christmas Lunch Week 12-17 December.
We’re calling on all our local partners, businesses and voluntary sector organisations to either support us or consider taking part by hosting their own lunch. This could be by:
- sponsoring a Council-hosted Big Christmas Lunch
- providing items for Christmas hampers and/or goody bags
- volunteering at the events
- providing entertainment as a choir or solo artist
- organising your own Big Christmas Lunch in your own communities.
For more information:
Sustainable Transport Strategy
We're working on a borough wide Sustainable Transport Strategy to guide the future delivery of sustainable transport schemes by the Council.
This project will help to enable people living and working in, and visiting, Newham to travel more sustainably.
We're looking for you to tell us what you think as we take a closer look at each of the vital transport related issues that will inform our strategy.
This business survey is intended for anyone who represents a business or employer in Newham. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes and as a thank you from us you can choose to enter a prize draw for one of three prizes of £100 shopping vouchers. The survey closes on 8 January 2023.
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E-business programme
In partnership with ourselves, Newham College has launched a new programme that will support 550 SMEs in the borough to capitalise on emerging digital and e-commerce technologies to drive their long-term growth.
Called the Local London E-business programme, it provides a menu of support and training to develop skills and knowledge of digital technology and applications across all sectors.
If you have been trading for a minimum of six months and would like to simply improve your online presence, increase turnover by creating content that converts into actual sales or just want to introduce new efficient CRM technologies that will help you save time and money in the long-term, then this e-business programme is for you. It will give you access to expert digital business advisors who can help you to organically grow your business. They will tailor the support and provide sessions that work around your availability.
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CE product marking lives on for a further two years
The UK Government has announced that it will continue to recognise the CE (Conformité Européenne) marking for a further two years, allowing businesses until 31 December 2024 to prepare for the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) framework. Businesses which have already taken a decision to switch over will have flexibility to choose which marking to apply.
For more information:
A new blueprint for advancing ethnic minority businesses
A new report called ‘Time to change’ from the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME), based at Aston University, has outlined the profile of ethnic minority entrepreneurship in the UK and the contribution that ethnic minority businesses (EMB) currently make to the economy; it highlights the barriers that disproportionately affect EMBs. The report also makes recommendations as to how EMBs in the UK can be supported to grow fourfold from £25bn to £100bn gross value added (GVA).
To read the full report:
Autumn Statement
On 17 November the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt MP, delivered his Autumn Statement.
Key tax announcements include:
- Income Tax and National Insurance contributions thresholds will be fixed at their current rates until April 2028.
- The National Insurance Secondary Threshold for employers is fixed at £9,100 until April 2028.
- The National Living Wage will increase from April 2023 to £10.42 from £9.50 for individuals aged over 23.
- The Income Tax additional rate threshold will be lowered from £150,000 to £125,140 from 6 April 2023.
- The Dividend Allowance will be reduced from £2,000 to £1,000 from April 2023, and to £500 from April 2024.
- Research and development tax reliefs will be modified from April 2023, with the R&D Expenditure Credit rate increasing from 13% to 20% and small and medium-sized enterprise deductions decreasing
- The Capital Gains Tax Annual Exempt Amount will reduce from £12,300 to £6,000 from April 2023 and to £3,000 from April 2024.
- The business rates multipliers will be frozen in 2023-24 at 49.9 pence and 51.2 pence. This is a tax cut worth £9.3bn over the next five years.
- From 1 April 2023 some businesses will be facing new business rates bills too following new valuations of their properties. In light of both of these, the government will be taking a number of steps to help rate payers. Example of support will include protecting the high streets from rising inflation by extending business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. Get an estimate of what your business rates bill may be from 1 April 2023 through the governments Find a Business Rates Valuation Service
- VAT: maintain registration threshold at current level to 31 March 2026. VAT rate remains at 20%.
- The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) for businesses will be reviewed by the Treasury to determine support beyond 31 March 2023 for non-domestic energy consumers.
- First Year Allowance for electric vehicle chargepoints: the Government will extend the 100% First Year Allowance for electric vehicle chargepoints to 31 March 2025 for Corporation Tax and 5 April 2025 for Income Tax.
- Changes to the taxation of electric vehicles: from April 2025, electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles.
Full details are set out in the Autumn Statement document on GOV.UK
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Events and exhibitions
Digital & Creative Skills for London event
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13 December – 10:00-12:30 London
Technology is transforming the workplace. Over the next 20 years an estimated 90% of jobs will require some form of digital skills. But many learners are way behind the pace and on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Employer body BusinessLDN is holding the Digital and Creative event on 13 December (venue to be advised on application), where they will be identifying the skills needed by the tech and creative sectors; the event will also look at how the digital skills divide can be bridged to meet all of London’s business needs.
To register please include ‘Digital & Creative LSIP event’ in an email subject line and provide your full name, organisation, job title and any dietary requirements to:
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Green & Construction Skills for London event
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14 December – 10:00-12:30 London
Green skills are vital to support London’s transition to net zero. Sectors like finance, energy and low carbon transport are creating exciting new roles, while jobs in all sectors have to adapt. However, often it’s not clear what green skills businesses need.
Join BusinessLDN at its Green & Construction Skills for London event which will identify the green skills that all London’s businesses need, as well as the skills which the construction sector is demanding.
To register please include ‘Green & Construction LSIP’ in an email subject line and provide your full name, organisation, job title and any dietary requirements to:
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Blogs and podcasts
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