As we kick off 2021, and to counteract the doomscrolling, Business Garage is on a mission to bring you some light and positivity. Here are a few recent good news stories we’ve spotted:
- Oxford United Football Club focused on making a positive social impact through:
- engaging and uniting young people on a National Citizen Service programme;
- holding Covid-19-secure holiday camps and after school clubs, after restrictions eased;
- delivering Oxford United branded face masks to care homes in the county;
- tackling loneliness among older people by launching The Manor Club Extra as a virtual monthly meeting for the over 50s and a series of virtual coffee mornings.
- With the vaccination programmes underway, recruitment increased dramatically in December according to the UK Report on Jobs from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG. Temporary recruitment rose at its fastest rate since October 2018 and permanent recruitment also rose, as the economy started to bounce back and business confidence increased.
- Low Carbon Hub social enterprise raised £1.5m of funding for renewable energy projects in Oxfordshire.
- BBC Radio Oxford has pledged to help find £5 million of work for Oxfordshire. Businesses can share your local job vacancies on air and online where jobseekers can find a list of jobs available. For every job shared by BBC Radio Oxford, they will add the wage on offer to our total up to their target of £5 million.
- Latest Covid-19 funding available for businesses:
- The Local Restrictions Support Grant scheme offers retrospective financial support to businesses that were open but severely impacted by the Tier 2 restrictions of 2 December to 25 December 2020. This scheme is only open to accommodation, hospitality and leisure businesses.
- The government is also offering one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the spring.
- The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme is still open until the end of March and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until 30 April 2021.
- If you chose to defer VAT between 20 March and 30 June 2020 and still have payments to make, you can:
- pay the deferred VAT in full on or before 31 March 2021
- opt in to the VAT deferral new payment scheme when it launches in 2021
- contact HMRC if you need more help to pay
- Employers can use the furlough scheme this time for homeschooling parents (reducing your obligations to show a reduction in workload or demand).
- Did you know you could claim tax relief for working at home due to the pandemic? It’s easy to apply via https://www.gov.uk/
Share your business good news story with us at [email protected] – we would love to hear from you! Business Garage provide professional, reliable support with financial management, bookkeeping, payroll, HR consultancy and HR advice, and business strategy. Contact us on [email protected] to arrange a free consultation for your business.
