SkillsBoost Worcestershire is a new programme to help organisations with the costs of upskilling and training their employees.

Worcestershire organisations can claim 50% of the training costs back, up to £6,000, for their Worcestershire based employees. This means that the new funding can allow organisations to upskill or redeploy their employees to maximise their effectiveness.

Businesses of any size and sector are eligible for the programme as long as the employees they are looking to upskill or retrain reside in Worcestershire. The SkillsBoost programme is being delivered in collaboration with Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and Worcestershire Growth Hub.

Funding for the SkillsBoost programme is limited on a first come first served basis and is only available from Tuesday 2 April 2024 until 31 March 2025.

An Upton business has been able to expand its premises after receiving a rural grant from Malvern Hills District Council.

GPD Contracts Ltd, a rendering and external wall insulation contractors based at Upton Business Park, applied for a grant of almost £4,000 towards their project.

They used the funding towards incorporating a new office space at their premises, as well as to improve an existing office room. The funding has also allowed them to hire an additional employee who is working as an Operations Co-Ordinator.

The Malvern Hills Rural Fund provides grants of between £2,500 and £25,000 to support new small or micro-businesses in rural areas, helping farmers to diversify into other sectors, and growing tourism. The grant is now open to new expressions of interest until 8 April 2024.

Trading Standards in the West Midlands Region are looking to understand the needs of your business and how they can better engage with you.

They would love to hear your thoughts and have created a brief survey to gain your insights. Your views are crucial as they shape upcoming business engagement strategies. Trading Standards value your feedback as a business owner, and your anonymous feedback will guide their efforts.

The survey has 18 simple questions that take, on average, under 4 minutes to complete.

Malvern Hills outdoor gear business OLPRO has won in the sustainability category at the regional FSB Awards and will now be put forward to the national UK FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards 2024 finals in May 2024.

OLPRO were awarded B-Corp certification in May 2023, meaning they have met high environmental and welfare standards as a business. 

The way that the public sector buys goods and services will be changing in October 2024.The new system will be simpler, open up procurement to smaller businesses and social enterprises, and improve transparency. 

There will be a new digital platform for suppliers, a simpler and more flexible bidding process and a stronger framework to take action on underperforming suppliers as well as more improvements. 

There is a free workshop and information session run by BetaDen on this topic on 25 April 2024. Find Out More.

Please read the document below for more information. 

Local businesses are being encouraged to contact the Worcestershire Growth Hub team to find out how their growth could be supported. There is support available for businesses looking to upskill or train their staff, businesses looking to access specialist expert advice, funding for growth ambitions and much more.

Alongside this, organisations can also find out about all of the upcoming business support events via the Worcestershire Growth Hub’s events calendar. 

Contact the Worcestershire Growth Hub team on the details below:

Call – 01905 677888

Email – info@worcestershiregrowthhub.co.uk

A significant pot of money has been announced by the British Business Bank as part of it's Midlands Engine Investment Fund II.

This fund will provide finance options of up to £2m to businesses in Worcestershire enabling them to grow, improve skills or innovate new products and services.

There will be a series of information events across the Midlands taking place in Leicester, Wolverhampton and Coventry.

This year marks 10 years since the Worcestershire Apprenticeships programme was founded in 2014. Over the past 10 years of promoting apprenticeships, the Apprenticeship Awards has been a flagship event to highlight the achievements of apprentices and employers.  

Nominations for the 2024 awards are now open with apprentices, employers, schools, and training providers in Worcestershire able to submit their entries or nominations online. The deadline for submissions is 19 July 2024.

Crowdfund Malvern Hills gives local people the opportunity to create and deliver projects that aim to enhance the district. The following projects could get off the ground with your support: 

• Food, Fun & Friendship in Tenbury Wells - A new friendship and lunch club for those who are socially isolated.
• Supporting homeless people in Malvern - Outreach workers to support homeless people into accessing services. 

Rural businesses and communities can now apply for up to £25,000 worth of funding with the return of the Malvern Hills Rural Fund.

A new round of the fund is now available to support new small or micro businesses in rural areas, including helping farmers to diversify into other sectors, and growing tourism.  

The money can only be used to fund physical projects such as new buildings or renovations and not for staff or day-to-day running costs.  

Individual grants of between £2,500 and £25,000 are on offer, but businesses will be expected to match fund 50% of the total cost of a project. 

Expressions of interest must be submitted through the Malvern Hills District Council website using the online form by 8 April 2024. Shortlisted bids will then be invited to work up a full application. 

The funding comes from the Government’s Rural England Prosperity Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

Grant funding is available to help Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to implement energy saving initiatives including LED lighting, heating and insulation and renewables. The initiative aims to support SMEs to make the transition towards a sustainable and low-carbon future. Malvern Hills businesses can apply for between £1,000 and £8,000.

Grants are awarded on a match-funded basis, meaning the SME will need to provide at least 60% of the total cost of the project.

Net Zero Worcestershire also offers free Decarbonisation Reviews.

Net Zero Worcestershire is one of the new business support programmes part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Malvern Hills District Council and Worcestershire County Council.

SME businesses can get money off installing electric vehicle charging points and supporting infrastructure for their staff and company vehicles. 

This funding is available until April 2025 and can be used to cover up to 75% of the cost of wider building and installation work that’s needed to install multiple chargepoint sockets.

Malvern Hills Businesses continue to benefit the Malvern Hills Upskilling Grant. 

The grant scheme provides funding of up to £1,500 to help with the business cost of training new staff (i.e. apprenticeships, trainee or other). In order to qualify businesses must be based in the Malvern Hills district postcode area, employ fewer than 250 people and pay at least the Minimum Wage to the trainee for a post of at least 30 hrs a week including training leading to a recognised qualification.

£500 is available to trainees and apprentices to help cover the cost of travel, equipment, tools and clothing necessary to access training.

The support is available to residents of Malvern Hills District who:

• Earn less than £220 per week.
• Attend a qualifying course.
• Are employed for a post of 30 hours a week for a minimum of 12 months.

Please spread the word that this support is available. 

Bloom Space Lunch and Learn sessions are completely free for attendees. They cover a range of topics that are vital for anyone who may have decided to plan, start or grow a business.

The sessions are: 

Creations of The Mind: An Introduction to IP Assets - 3 April 2024
IP Strategy: Not Just for Big Companies - 10 April 2024
IP Agreements and Contracts - 17 April 2024
Accounting in a Digital World - 22 May 2024

These events will be informal discussions, over lunchtime, where you can finding out more about the topic, get to know the expert, and network with peers. The sessions are held in BLOOMSPACE Malvern in the training or event rooms. You will also have the chance to have a tour of the building and meet some of the members.

Work Well Live Better's monthly event surrounds the topic of setting personal boundaries at work. 

This interactive online workshop will share practical tips to create a healthy work life balance if you always find yourself stressed and struggling to say no to excess work. 

Visit Worcestershire's first networking session of the year will be held at Eckington Manor on Tuesday 9th April 2024, 10-11:45am.

Guest speakers from communications agency Conteur will discuss how to form an effective digital and PR strategy and Cassie Bray from the Bray Partnership, will speak on how to maximise your reach on a small budget with social media. 

There will also be an optional Tourism Awards Workshop directly after to help guide you through the application process for the awards. 

BIPC Worcestershire has plenty of support and webinars for businesses of any size, follow the link below for the full programme. 

• Join the Malvern Library Business Breakfast from 8am followed by the Business Support Drop-in Clinic from 10am on 2 May 2024.
• On Demand Webinar - Create Scroll Stopping Posts with Canva - 11 April 2024. 
• On Demand Webinar - Key Financial Tools for New Businesses - 11 April 2024.