Waltham Forest Council‘s Kickstart programme  has launched. It will support businesses in the borough interested in participating with the Government’s scheme to support people aged 16-24 at risk of long-term unemployment, due to the economic downturn of Covid-19.

Kickstart will help young people get into the job market by creating six-month employment placements, with their wages paid by the UK government. The Council will support businesses of all sizes and from all sectors to take part.

Government funding for each Kickstart placement covers:

• 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage and employer National Insurance contributions for 25 hours a week;
• employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.

Businesses are invited to work with Crate St James Street in Walthamstow and Project Zero, who have developed a Kickstart programme, Boost-ed, that benefits both businesses and young residents. They offer a wraparound service before, during and after placements.

More information on the Boost:ed scheme 

Email for more information on the Kickstart scheme 

The Government has announced that Councils will be funded to give monthly grants to hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses in tier 2 areas, even if they are not required to close.

We are awaiting further information from the Government about how the grant scheme will be administered.

Further announcements will be made by the Council through this newsletter as it is informed of the detail.

More information on grants and other support

Applications are open until Friday 30 October for the Future Enterprise programme, supported by the Mayor of Waltham Forest and in partnership with Project Zero, for a chance to secure £3,000 and turn startup ideas into a business.

Future Enterprise aims to help under-represented young people aged 18 to 30 to build essential business skills and networks. The programme offers an opportunity to pitch for the substantial seed funding to boost these business ideas.

We encourage submissions from those underrepresented within the creative sector including people from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, who are LGBT+ or low socio-economic backgrounds and individuals with disabilities.  

Our aim is to support young people from the borough to access opportunities, so we are offering four advice and guidance workshops through the programme and seek 1-1 support from our team.

Learn more about Future Enterprise and apply

Message from Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy:

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and his team at City Hall want to work with businesses to help deliver a green recovery from this pandemic and make London a zero carbon city.

London’s commercial and industrial buildings make up 36% of London’s carbon footprint, or around 11 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. To create the future we want, we’re going to need to work together to bring that number right down.

We want to help businesses like yours reduce energy consumption in your buildings, which will lower the impact on the environment and save you money, and have a transformative effect on the capital.

We also know that taking action can be overwhelming, especially in these challenging times. That’s why we are carrying out a survey to find out the challenges that businesses like yours face when thinking about taking energy efficiency actions, and the kind of support that we can provide that would help you most.

In less than ten minutes, you can help us understand how we can tackle this climate emergency together. The survey closes on 13 November.

Take the survey now

Digital Month returns for the fifth year in Waltham Forest this November.

The council has collated an exciting programme for businesses, with webinars highlighting the digital resources available in Waltham Forest, the importance of having an online presence and free digital marketing tools for business owners to promote their services during the pandemic. 

The programme will also include events for Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Check for full details of these sessions on WF Connected

Are you interested in selling your local goods before the holiday season? Join us at the newly renovated Walthamstow Library for a Winter Market series.

We will be hosting 45 businesses from 4-20 December, with each weekend giving 15 vendors an opportunity to sell their items based around unique themes.

Extensive planning has been put in place to ensure safe Covid-19 measures to protect both our vendors and visitors with a one-way system and generous distancing in the large hall.

We invite you to participate in this festive occasion – if you’re interested, please email for details.

Find out more about the Winter Market 

We will continue to update you as new information is available. We know that this is a fast-moving situation, but we are confident staff will continue to provide support and guidance to local businesses in Waltham Forest.

You can sign up to our email newsletter with up-to-date information about Covid-19 below.

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