Yesterday, it was announced that in the UK all non-essential retail stores in England will be allowed to re-open from 15 June, on the proviso they are ‘COVID secure’. The Prime Minister also confirmed that open air outdoor markets and car showrooms can open from 1 June.
While this easing of lockdown restrictions is undoubtedly good news for retailers and suppliers, most of whose businesses will have been hit hard by being unable to trade as usual for the past two months, reopening under social distancing rules now brings a whole new set of challenges.
People are being encouraged to support local businesses during the coronavirus outbreak.
A new campaign – Stronger Together – has been launched encouraging people, including businesses to buy local and support local businesses. To get the campaign running, people are being encouraged to create and share a short ten-second video clip about a local business they love.
Exeter City Council is backing the campaign and has linked up with a number of organisations and businesses to form the Stronger Exeter taskforce. The campaign comes as the government announced that shops and...
A leading Devon law firm has produced a series of guides to help businesses during coronavirus. Stephens Scown LLP’s covid-19 guides cover how businesses can survive and thrive, key legal issues businesses should not forget about and considerations before hibernating a business.
“Although we are starting to understand how the UK may come out of lockdown, there is a very long way to go and lots of challenges ahead for Cornish businesses. There is so much information out there for businesses, but it can be quite overwhelming to access what is relevant,” says Richard Baker, Stephens...
With the UK charity sector estimated to be facing a £4 billion loss in the next 12 weeks and 50% of all businesses putting most of their staff on furlough as a result of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Freestyle , a Midlands-based digital product studio - has launched a unique service helping charities connect and find support from local businesses and its furloughed workers, Charity Matcher . For many of the UK’s 200,000 charities who employ an estimated 880,000 people, the cancellations of fundraising events and closure of high street charity shops have hit finances hard. The...
COVID-19 has impacted virtually all businesses across the UK in some way.Whilst some have shut their doors (possibly permanently) others are enjoying the sort of seasonal demand only ordinarily experienced with the promise of a big old chap coming down your chimney in a red suit.
The Government has launched numerous support schemes, which on the whole have been good, but they won’t be able to support everyone, and there is no one-size-fits-all because no business is the same. Here, Phil Mills, Head of Food and Drink at financial experts Old Mill gives his five top tips on what...
Hundreds of businesses in Exeter invited to make a claim for a grant to help them through the Coronavirus outbreak have yet to do so, Exeter City Council has revealed.
The Council is helping distribute £25 million of government funding in the form of either Small Business Grants or Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants.
Last week, the Council wrote to 2,000 businesses in Exeter inviting them to make a claim.
And on Thursday evening, only around a third to a half of those businesses eligible had responded.
The CBI have urged even more businesses in region to join the ‘battle’ to produce protective equipment for the NHS and front-line workers. The organisation have organised a webinar for companies and CBI Deputy Regional Director Ben Rhodes welcomes all those interested to sign up.
The organisation are urging firms with the skills or expertise that could be harnessed to get involved, as well as those who have skills that could be useful for the fight, including the suppliers, lawyers, logistics and others needed to make this critical endeavour happen.
Devon County Council has pledged that it will do everything it can to help local businesses through the coronavirus outbreak and ensure a strong recovery for the local economy.
The authority is encouraging businesses to visit the Heart of the South West Growth Hub to find essential information on available support and advice.
The Growth Hub, which is delivered by the County Council on behalf of the HotSW Local Enterprise Partnership, can help provide businesses with details of the Government’s proposals on Business Rate Relief and how eligible businesses can apply for...
Businesses in Exeter are being invited to take part in TEDxExeter 2020 by hosting a free live broadcast in their workplaces for staff to enjoy.
The ninth annual TEDxExeter conference takes place on Friday 17th April 2020, and organisers want to encourage as many people as possible across the city to get involved.
'It's just not possible for everybody who wants to get a ticket to come along to the event at the Northcott Theatre, so this year we're offering more businesses than ever before the opportunity to get involved by streaming the talks directly into their offices,'...
Tech firms in the South West are predicting a strong year of growth in 2020, according to the findings of the annual Tech South West survey.
Tech organisations from Bath, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Somerset took part in the survey.
It revealed that almost two thirds (64.8%) of technology firms in the region expect their company workforce to increase in 2020.
And positivity is on the up, with 69.5% of organisations expecting to fare better in 2020 than in 2019. This marks a shift from the results 12 months ago, when only 50%...
