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Welcome to the April edition of Test valley Business Matters.
In this edition we're highlighting the opportunity for an established food and drink business to provide and manage a café, bar and restaurant on the ground floor of the Guildhall in Andover. We've also included a reminder about the rural capital grants of £5k-£25k available through TVBC to cover up to 50% of the costs of capital equipment or a capital project. Please contact us if you want to discuss this further. In addition, we've summarised some of the significant changes to employment law, and provided information on skills and recruitment.
Finally, on 13 June, we're delighted to offer a free and very practical morning workshop on artificial intelligence for businesses within the borough. AI has developed at an exceptional rate over the last 15 months and the implementation of AI tools into your business has the potential to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth. Please sign up!
The Council is seeking to identify a lead operator to run the café/restaurant within the ground floor of The Andover Guildhall.
We are looking for a business which will attract footfall from daytime through to the evening, offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks, and help drive our vision for the town centre, as described in the Andover masterplan.
In addition to a core food and beverage offer, the lead operator will be expected to work with representatives from the Council and collaborate with other local businesses and cultural organisations to develop a curated programme of events within the space and support the wider events programme in the town centre.
Further information is available here Lower Guildhall Opportunity The deadline for receipt of proposals is 10 May 2024. Please contact the team if you wish to view the premises.
This free workshop, hosted by TVBC at the Beech Hurst Council offices in Andover, will be led by Luke Williams, Head of AI at Intergage Group. He'll provide an introduction to AI, explain some of the jargon, show you the risks of bias, showcase the forthcoming power of AI video, provide practical tips on prompt writing, introduce 'Custom GPTs', identify real-world use-cases and outline quick wins that your company can make immediately with tasks such as note taking, summarising, and locating email content. He'll also talk you through the safety, legal and ethical considerations that AI presents, and explain the importance of having an organisational AI policy.
The group will be limited to 30 people to facilitate discussion and questions. Come along if you're keen to learn more, or are starting to experiment with AI in your business. To register, please go to TVBC AI workshop.
This is a reminder that capital grants of £5k-£25k to fund up to 50% of a capital project or investment are available for businesses in areas designated as rural by DEFRA (In practice this is everything in Test Valley outside of Romsey and Andover; if you contact us with your postcode, we can check). The work must be completed or money spent by March 2025.
These grants are funded by the UK Government through the Rural England Prosperity Fund and will support:
- Small scale investments (businesses with fewer than 50 employees).
- Development and promotion of the visitor economy (businesses with fewer than 250 employees).
- Growing the local social economy & supporting innovation (businesses with fewer than 250 employees).
Examples of eligible capital projects include building works to improve your premises or to enable it to offer improved services, or new machinery to improve productivity or to enable you to offer a new product. If you have an idea you want to sense-check with us before completing an application, please email pfunds@testvalley.gov.uk. Further information and the application form are available at Rural England Prosperity Fund | Test Valley Borough Council.
Romsey and District Chamber of Commerce is running an evening of talks and networking for sole traders, startup businesses and entrepreneurs on Wednesday 15 May. Speakers include Jennie Pell from the TVBC Economic Development team and Andy Pringle who runs the free TVBC Small business support service.
The event will take place at Romsey Rugby Club's Clubhouse, Ganger Farm from 17:30-21:00. It is open to members and non-members of the Chamber (£5 charge for non-members). You can book your place here: Solos & Startups – Romsey Chamber.
Nominations are now open for the Test Valley Business Awards. Anyone can nominate a business or individual through the website at www.tvbawards.co.uk.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available; details can be found here: TVBA sponsorship packages or contact info@tvbawards.org.uk to discuss. Three categories are still available to sponsor: Business Person of the Year, Corporate Business, and Employer of the Year.
The Awards dinner will take place on 24 October 2024.
Nominations are open until 7 June 2024 for The Business Magazine's South Coast Technology and Innovation Awards. There are 14 categories. Scroll down to see details and enter: South Coast Tech & Innovation Awards 2024.
If you are a larger business that will need to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (you satisfy two out of: 250+ employees during reporting year, >€40m net turnover, >€20m total assets), the Carbon Trust's Accelerate to Net Zero virtual event on the morning of 22 May will be useful to you. Further details can be found here: Accelerate to Net Zero 2024.
From 1 April, the threshold at which businesses must register for VAT increased from a taxable turnover of £85,000 to £90,000 for the last 12 months. Businesses may deregister if their taxable turnover falls below £88,000. Further information can be found here: When to register for VAT - GOV.UK or via video here: Registering for and paying VAT - HMRC YouTube
There are some notable changes to employment law from April 2024:
- Where the expected week of childbirth or adoption is on or after 6 April, fathers and partners are entitled to take their paternity leave as two non-consecutive blocks of one week rather than only in one block. They can also take this leave at any point in the first year after the birth or adoption of their child.
- Pregnant women and parents on maternity leave, adoption leave or shared parental leave must be offered first refusal of any suitable alternative employment if they are put at risk of redundancy. This protection from redundancy has been extended to cover 18 months from the estimated week of childbirth or adoption.
- Holiday entitlement for irregular hours workers and part-year workers can be calculated at 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period. It is lawful to pay this additional 'holiday' pay for each pay period rather than when the employee takes holiday.
- Employees who provide or arrange care for a dependent with a long-term care need (> 3 months) are entitled to take one week of unpaid leave per year to fulfil their caring responsibilities.
- Employees have the right to request flexible working from their first day in a new job. Employees may make two written requests in a 12-month period and the employer must reach a decision within 2 months of the request.
There are local companies in Test Valley that provide specialist advice on employment law if this is an area in which you need support.
If you are an employer for whom construction activities take up more than half your employees' time, you should be registered with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and pay its levy. Registered members benefit from CITB support in training and skills. As part of this, you are entitled to grants towards short courses, qualifications and apprenticeships, and a construction skills and training fund for your existing workforce worth up to £5,000 for a business with up to 49 employees rising to £25,000 for a business with 250 directly employed staff. Further details can be found here: Levy, Grants, Funding - CITB.
Andover College is investing significantly in construction facilities and is seeing a rapidly increasing demand for its construction courses. The College is keen to work with employers in the sector. CITB is also working with the College - If you are a CITB member and provide a work placement for at least 30 hours to a student for example, you can claim £500 - further information is available here: Into Work grant - CITB.
Please contact Graham Ayrton on graham.ayrton@sparsholtservices.ac.uk to discuss opportunities for work placements, apprenticeships and T-level student placements.
If you are struggling to find high quality new workers and have vacancies for those seeking their first job or for apprenticeships or work placements, Talentview is worth a look. It's free to advertise there, and you can look at profiles of students that have registered. There is a dedicated section for construction Talentview Construction and a further section for more experienced construction workers Talent retention in construction.
Jobcentre Plus can work with employers to deliver sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs). These provide a potential employee with a programme of up to 6 weeks which includes pre-employment training (as discussed with you), a short work placement, and a guaranteed job interview. The cost of the training is covered. The SWAP helps you to recruit staff with the right training and gives you the opportunity to see if an individual is suited to your business. To offer a SWAP, you must have a current vacancy, guarantee to give the participant(s) a job interview and provide a safe working environment.
SWAPs have worked well in hospitality, retail, admin, construction (CSCS), customer services, health and social care, engineering, warehousing and HGV/bus driving.
For further information, see: Sector-based work academy programme: employer guide or contact dwhi.swap@dwp.gov.uk.
This is to remind you that Andover College is holding a launch event to showcase its new healthcare facilities. Business professionals are invited to see the facilities, hear about the courses, explore potential partnerships with the College and help shape the future of healthcare education. Please sign up here: Healthcare Launch - Thursday 25 April at 17:00.
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