The Chancellor delivered his summer Economic Update in Parliament on Wednesday 8 July, which outlined a package of measures to support jobs, give businesses the confidence to keep and hire staff, and provide people with the tools they need to get better jobs.

Full details of the announcement can be found here. 

Find out what financial support you can get for your business.

A full range of business support measures have been made available to UK businesses. You can find out how to access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply here.

Is your business operating as a take-away?

We need your help now more than ever before to keep on top of take-away litter.

We're encouraging our local businesses to work with us to ensure that customers are encouraged to throw away containers in litter bins provided.

• Can you provide more bins outside of your take away?
• Can you do a litter pick during the day and at the end of an evening?
• Can you remind customers to put their litter in a bin or take it home?

As we go into the summer season, with hot weather around the corner, we want to ensure our towns, beaches and countryside are kept clean and tidy for all to enjoy. 

Thank you for helping us to keep our region tidy.

How can you get customers to eat in your cafe or restaurant?

Register for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme to encourage customers to eat in your restaurant, or other eating establishment, by giving them a discount which you can then claim back from the government. 

The scheme will drum up custom on quieter days of the week and means you can build your business back up.

You can use the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme:

• all day, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3 to 31 August 2020
• to offer a 50% discount, up to a maximum of £10 per person, to diners for food or non-alcoholic drinks to eat or drink in
• to claim the money back from the government

There is no limit to the number of times customers can use the offer during the period of the scheme. Your customers cannot get a discount for someone who is not eating or drinking. Alcohol and service charges are excluded from the offer.

The good news is you can still register for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme if you’ve used other schemes like the Job Retention or Self Employed Income Support Schemes. Find out more and register here.

If you’re a VAT registered business, you might be able to reduce the rate of VAT temporarily on supplies relating to hospitality, accommodation, or admission to certain attractions.

You can apply for a temporary 5% reduced rate of VAT to certain supplies relating to:

• hospitality
• hotel and holiday accommodation
• admissions to certain attractions

The temporary reduced rate will apply to supplies that are made between 15 July 2020 and 12 January 2021. See if you are eligible here.

Thousands of expert professional and business services advisers have signed up to offer free online advice to help small businesses bounce back from coronavirus.

The Recovery Advice for Business scheme, now live here on the Enterprise Nation website, will give small firms access to free, one-to-one advice with an expert adviser to help them through the pandemic and to prepare for long-term recovery. 

Advice offered will include bespoke, specialist assistance from accountancy, legal, advertising to marketing, recruitment and digital to help businesses adapt to difficult circumstances and to bounce back as the UK economy recovers.

If you’re a grower, labour provider or agency bringing workers from overseas to work on farms in England, you'll need to read this guidance.

You must make sure that workers have documentary evidence to confirm that they are travelling to your farm to carry out seasonal agricultural work. Workers must have these documents before they travel.

Within two hours of workers arriving at the farm, you should give them:

• clear instructions about their working and living arrangements
• industry guidance on social distancing

You should ask workers to give written confirmation that they have received and understood this information. Find out more here.

TDA is working in partnership with Be the Business, the @HeartoftheSouthWestLEP to support tourism and hospitality businesses recover from the impacts of Coronavirus and enable business recovery and growth.

'Be the Business' is a free support programme for all tourism and hospitality businesses in Torbay, Devon, Plymouth and Somerset.

Below is the link to a confidential business survey that will help Be the Business build the right programme based on business need. This evidence will also help us to show local, regional and national partners and Government what support is needed by the sector. Complete the survey.