The Community Renewal Fund backed Upskilling Project across Malvern Hills and Wychavon is coming to an end.
If you currently have an apprentice/trainee that started after 1 April 2021 you may still be able to benefit from the programme with a £2000 Upskilling Grant.
Please contact the team or send in an application form to check if your business is eligible.
We are still offering Support Bursaries and Golden Hello’s to apprentices and trainees if they have already begun their training. Please pass on this information to your employees.
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Worcestershire Ambassadors is asking for your help to raise £100,000 to provide a 3 day nutritionally balanced food parcel over Christmas for everyone who uses their nominated food banks. To cover the Malvern Hills area, they need to raise £14,000 for Malvern Hills foodbank. Just £20 will pay for the 3 day food parcel for an individual and £40 will cover a family. Many individuals and families turn to food banks over the festive season, so donations are gratefully received. |
Malvern Hills District Council is supporting the new District Discount 500 book and offering local businesses the opportunity for low-cost advertising.
How it works:
• Pay £5 per voucher/discount you wish to promote in the book which includes a logo and/or photo of your choice.
• 500 vouchers/discounts will be included in the book and are only available for six months
• 5000 books will go on sale online and in stores from November at a low cost of £1.
Benefits to your business:
• Low-cost advertising
• Promote your business to up to 5000 households for as little as £5
• Generate footfall, new customers and sales
• Opportunity for your business to sell the books and retain some of the costs.
District Discount 500 production is now taking place and coupon slots are available. If you are interested in adding a coupon to the booklet, contact Annette on annette@uptonnews.uk or 07538 785314.
This initiative is part of Malvern Hills District Councils commitment to supporting local businesses and communities as part of the new Town Centre Plans.
Many businesses have been sent requests for Business Rates information over recent months by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and now updated bills are going out.
Business Rates are revalued every three years. Starting now and into 2023, all bills are liable to change.
Business rates and Rateable Values are established and set by the Westminster Government via the VOA but are collected by Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) on behalf of the VOA.
MHDC has no input into the valuations or Rateable Values set, other than collecting data at the VOA's demand. All money collected goes roughly: 50% to Westminster, 40% to Worcestershire County Council, and only 9% to MHDC and 1% to the Fire Service.
Up to now, around 80% of the MHDC area's businesses have been exempt from Business Rates, due to their Rateable Values being under £12,000. Many of the remaining 20% had complete exemption from Business Rates during COVID.
New, higher Rateable Values and bills may come as an unwelcome surprise at a time of higher costs in many other areas. MHDC is aware of the problems revaluations may cause, but cannot change the VOA's calculations or decisions, despite the bills coming out under MHDC's name.
There is a formal appeal process for businesses via the VOA that businesses can use, click the link below.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is encouraging business owners, employers and the self-employed in the West Midlands to check online to make sure they are not missing out on a range of tax reliefs and allowances.
HMRC’s new GOV.UK page summarises items that customers running their own business should explore and could help them keep more of what they earn. At just one click, businesses, employers and the self-employed can find out their eligibility for tax reliefs and financial allowances, as well as how to claim them.
Enterprising Worcestershire, Business & IP Centre Worcestershire and The University of Worcester are jointly hosting a Start-up QuickPitch on 17 November at the Hive during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Pre-start businesses and those trading for up to 12 months will get the opportunity to pitch their business idea to a panel of local business experts in front of a supportive entrepreneurial community.
It is free to enter and there is a prize for the winner!
The event is designed to encourage those who are new to pitching to hone their personal selling skills, whilst providing a platform to promote and gain exposure for their business concepts. Every shortlisted entrepreneur will receive a free year’s membership to the national business support platform Enterprise Nation.
Applications are now open and will close at 11pm on Sunday 30 October.
For further information, please contact EW@worcestershire.gov.uk.
Enterprising Worcestershire has announced that the new contract for delivery of the Start-Up Club has been awarded to Smarter Society, who have extensive experience supporting and sharing their knowledge with individuals hoping to start and develop their own business. The support is available to anyone, whether their business idea is B2B or B2C, and will be running across Worcestershire Districts over the coming months. The course promises to deliver engaging, informative, and interactive information across 5-days and will cover a wide range of topics from sales and marketing through to pitching an idea. Upon completion of the course, individuals can also access up to 2 hours of additional 1:1 support.
In addition to the above, Smarter Society will also be offering:
- Up to 2 hours of 1:1 support available for established B2B and B2C Worcestershire businesses under 5 years old
- 3-6 hours of business coaching for businesses under 5 years who are trading B2C.
To find out more about the support offered by Enterprising Worcestershire email: ew@worcestershire.gov.uk
Is your business based in Worcestershire and less than 5 years old?
- Do you employ fewer than 250 people?
- Do you trade at least 70% Business to Business?
If so, there has never been a better time to live in Worcestershire; achieve new levels of business growth on this Enterprising Worcestershire Early Stage Coaching Programme by working with one of the Real World Consultancy Business Growth Coaches whilst receiving:
-12 hours one to one business coaching
-DISC Assessment
-Business Assessment
-Online community
-Meet up's in Worcester
-Online and Face to Face options for coaching
Help boost campaigns that enrich communities in your local area. Donations from local businesses are gratefully received to help these projects reach their targets.
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Upton Shuttle Bus - Inspired by the community spirit shown during the coronavirus pandemic the Upton Shuttle Bus will connect Upton and its surrounding villages. Run by local volunteers the bus will provide practical connection as well as community to residents.
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Malvern Link Community Fridge REVAMP! - Pressure on the Malvern Link foodbank continues to grow; they need to expand their facilities to continue to help struggling families and stop food going to landfill.
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Great Malvern Victorian Cemetery Revival - This historic Cemetary is in need of support to restore graves, look after flora and fauna and maintain listed buildings. This will lead to enhanced opportunities for community involvement, tourism and education.
All Worcestershire employers are eligible to benefit from the Skills Bootcamps programme which offers flexible courses of up to 16 weeks. Employers contribute a small amount to the cost of training their existing employees; larger employers with over 250 employees need to contribute 30% of the cost and small or medium employers with 3 - 249 employees just 10%. For individuals accessing the programme it is completely free.
For more information get in touch with the Worcestershire Growth Hub on 01905 677888 or by email: info@worcestershiregrowthhub.co.uk
Take part in this new survey to share how valuable digital skills are to your business. Evidence from the survey will help the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Worcestershire County Council to built a strategy around digital skills to ensure that employers demands for technology confident staff can be met.
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Get help hiring graduate talent with grants of up to £6250 from the Here2Help business support team. Graduates are a fantastic business investment with studies showing they provide a return of 500% to 800%. The grant will be used towards the graduate's salary. Businesses must trade predominantly B2B and be Worcestershire SME's hiring graduates from 2020, 2021 or 2022. |
The Enterprising Worcestershire programme, have announced there are a limited number of grants up to the value of £30,000 on offer to help start-up businesses in Worcestershire.
The grant is designed to give eligible SMEs that are less than three years old a significant helping hand. Grant funding can cover multiple capital and revenue expenditure items such as, but not limited to, equipment, machinery, website construction and logo design.
There are only a limited number of these matched funded grants available so eligible businesses will need to get their application in quickly. Smaller grants of £1,000 to £15,000 will still be on offer to start-up businesses through Enterprising Worcestershire.
For more information, and the full list of eligibility, please click the button below:
Worcestershire County Council and the Worcestershire Growth Hub have announced registration for their Autumn Business Worcestershire Conference is open. The conference is set to take place on the 8 November at Worcestershire County Cricket Club, 8.00am – 12:30pm.
November’s conference will focus on the topics: financing growth, pitching for investment, managing cashflow and R&D tax credits.
Through thought-provoking discussions and talks, attendees will hear the latest insight from inspiring speakers, have the chance to learn about what support is available to your business, and will have plenty of time to network.
The conference is open to all businesses across the county of all sizes, from Start-Ups to SMEs to large-scale corporations and is free to attend.
You can keep up to date with the latest details of the conference on the Council’s social media channels.
LinkedIn –Worcestershire County Council
Twitter - @BusinessWorcs
BIPC Worcestershire has plenty of support and webinars for businesses of any size.
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Explore the benefits of co-working in rural areas. In this free to attend CoLab Event look at how co-working can help your organisation reduce costs, increase reach, improve partnership working, facilitate collaboration and help tackle climate change with Alex Brookes from The Kiln in Worcester. Lindridge Village Office is a pilot funded by Malvern Hills District Council to meet changing needs of a rural workforce and VCS.
LLoyds Bank, in partnership with The Worcestershire Growth Hub, are bringing their Small Business Bootcamp workshops to Worcestershire.
- Creating a digital strategy for your business by Lloyds Bank Academy - 18 October 2022
- Business digital skills and tech tools by TCS - 25 October 2022
- Creating your online brand by Lloyds Bank Academy - 1 November 2022
- Deepening customer relationships by ActionCOACH - 8 November 2022
- How local partners can help your business by Worcester Local Enterprise Partnership - 15 November 2022
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