COVID-19 Business Guidance
Financial Support
Business Support
Business Guidance during Coronavirus
Business Guidance
If your Business has been affected by COVID-19 (whether it's a supply chain issue, problems exporting goods or staffing concerns) please get in touch with the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Growth Hub by emailing support@gbslepgrowthhub.co.uk or call 0800 032 3488. Their business resilience Account Managers will discuss with you how their services may be able to help your business throughout this period.
Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
GBCC Support:click here for the latest information on the support available from the GBCC
Advice & Guidance: click here to visit the Coronavirus (COVID-19) hub offering information, advice and guidance from the GBCC and their members
The Latest News: register here for the ChamberLink Daily newsletter to receive the latest information and guidance direct to your inbox every weekday
If you are a member, you are asked to contact your relationship manager if you are experiencing issues. Latest updates are issued through the Chamberlink Daily bulletin and @grbhamchambers social media account as well as a dedicated page on their website.
Federation of Small Businesses
For small businesses and the self-employed, the Federation of Small Businesses have information and guidance on their web pages.
Specific Areas of Support
For start-up and early trading business advice and support please contact our Enterprise for Success advisors.
For social enterprises and entrepreneurs there is a Social Enterprise Helpline, ran by iSE.
For Tourism businesses, there is a dedicated page on the West Midlands Growth Company website.
For information regarding Solihull Town Centre updates please visit Solihull BID webpages.
To speak to a member of the Business Investment team, please call 0121 704 6151/0121 704 6167 or 0121 704 6920 or email business@solihull.gov.uk.
More coronavirus advice and information can found on Solihull Council's website.
Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership – the Your Step Forward website has support for retailers, including getting online and retail recovery planning – offering free webinars and 1:1 support.
Councils across England have an allocation of European Regional Development Funding to support the reopening of high streets and other commercial areas. The money will allow local authorities to put in place additional measures to establish a safe trading environment for businesses and customers, particularly in high streets, through measures to extend to the end of March 2021. For more information on the funding, please contact the Business Investment Team on 0121 704 6167 or email business@solihull.gov.uk.
The Business and Planning Act 2020 was passed to promote economic recovery and growth in response to the economic impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The Act includes urgent provisions designed to make it easier for premises in England serving food and drink such as bars, restaurants and cafes to seat and serve customers outdoors through temporary changes to planning procedures and alcohol licensing. For more information and to apply, click here.
As part of the recent announcements from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) the government will be introducing a time limited development right through secondary legislation to allow the temporary change of use from a pub (A4 – drinking establishment) and a restaurant (A3 – restaurants and cafes) to a hot-food takeaway for a period of 12 months to allow for local deliveries as part of the Coronavirus effort. Businesses are asked to notify the local authority if they plan to do this planningenforcement@solihull.gov.uk
Also, steps are being taken to relax planning controls over food deliveries -including the time and number of lorry deliveries to retailers and distributors of food and other ‘essential’ deliveries during the Coronavirus period. For advice for business considering food deliveries, please click here. For Government guidance for food businesses, please click here.
Further information can be found at the MHCLG website.
With recent guidance being issued the Travel Choices Team are aware that many businesses are looking into agile working / home working options. They have put together some useful information and have made available a free downloadable resource to help. Visit the TfWM website to register for the information and resource on their website. For advice on Smarter Working please contact sustainabletravelteam@solihull.gov.uk
VisitEngland in partnership with the national tourist boards for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, have launched a new industry standard to help businesses reassure customers that they comply with official public health guidance on COVID-19.
Over 11,000 businesses have already gone through the application process and received a “We’re Good to Go” certificate to display on their premises. Read more.
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Business Guidance during Coronavirus
The law requires food businesses to register as a food business or approval. The main purpose of registration is for the Local Authority to know what businesses are operating in the borough and ensure it receives an inspection.
Further information on how to register a food business for free and food hygiene training can be found here.
- Food Management Systems
If you are operating a food business you should have already identified the potential risks and have procedures in place to ensure the food sold is safe. The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 requires businesses to have a food safety management system based on the principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). In summary it is a written document to demonstrate what you are doing to make food safe.
The Food Standards Agency has developed a pack for small caterers and retailers free to download here.
Further information relating to food safety including allergens and free online allergen training can be found at the Food Standards Agency.
- National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (NFHRS)
The NFHRS is run in partnership with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and is a national scheme providing businesses with a rating from zero (indicating the business to improve standards) to five (customers can be confident of high standards) after every inspection. To find out more how this scheme will apply to your business, guidance on how to improve your rating or to search for a rating within the borough please click here.
- Imported Food
If you are a business looking to export or import food please click here for further information.
The current COVID-19 situation has affected our daily lives in many different ways. Our regulatory services teams are working hard to protect businesses and consumers in the current environment.
Businesses are urged to remain vigilant and aware of recent COVID-19 scams to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis. Visit the Action Fraud or National Trading Standards websites for information about scams and advice on how to protect your business including Business Against Scams - a free online tool developed by National Trading Standards to protect businesses.
Coronavirus has seen many businesses close, leaving buildings empty.
West Midlands Police are maintaining a visible presence across our communities. However, they need your help to ensure that your buildings are as secure as they can be. Click here for some useful advice for you to consider to protect your premises during this time.
As a business you can play a leading role in preventing the spread of Covid 19, keeping you, your customer and your staff safe.
What do I need to do to plan for re-opening?
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Undertake a Risk Assessment of your business
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The layout of your premises – Spend time looking at the how your premises is laid out, so you can have a smooth, one-way flow of people, maintaining social distancing. Installing visible markers encouraging social distancing can help, particularly in areas such as entrances and exits and at pay points.
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Speak to suppliers – It’s important to plan how and when goods and supplies arrive at your premises to make sure it has minimum disruption to your suppliers and with your customers.
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Talk to your customers – Your website and social media is a good way to let your customers know what they can expect when they visit your business.
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Communicating with your neighbours – It may be that your neighbouring businesses are planning to reopen at the same time. Talk to them early about how they intend to operate and how you will both control entrance and exit of customers.
Queue Management - Floor Sticker Advice
What can you do to support your customers and staff?
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Your staff – Talk to your staff about the changes that you have made, serving and helping customers, payments and managing stock. This includes those customers who may be queuing. If possible, organise your staff so they work in set teams. Consider how you can protect staff who may be more vulnerable from COVID-19. Can these staff continue to work from home or be assigned non-public facing roles to reduce the chance of exposure to the virus. Spending time checking on their wellbeing and signposting them to support is key to helping your business run smoothly. You can access advice on mental wellbeing by visiting www.mind.org.uk/coronavirus-we-are-here-for-you
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Your Customers – Welcoming your customers and explaining the changes to your premises when they enter will make their customer experience more enjoyable. Reducing the range of stock on display and encouraging customers to ask about products, rather than not touching products can be a valuable way of reducing the spread of the virus and will help keep them and your staff safe.
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Contactless payments
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Increased cleanliness and hygiene - Frequently clean and disinfect objects and surfaces that are touched within the workplace, using your usual cleaning products. No additional PPE is required other than what you would normally use for cleaning. Hand sanitisers on entry and exit and encouraging customers and staff to use them can help reduce the risk of spread. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance
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Returns Policy – keep returns away from display for 72 hours as the virus presence on materials and surfaces is likely to be significantly reduced after 72 hours.
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Personal Protective Equipment - When managing the risk of COVID-19, additional PPE beyond what you usually wear is not beneficial. Inappropriate use of PPE presents risks in itself. Your staff may have lots of questions about the use of PPE so be clear and share the latest guidance with them.
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Within a retail business there will be an element of risk of coronavirus transmission between individuals including employees and customers. It is therefore vital that employers are prepared for this and encourage workers to follow any instructions to self-isolate and support them when in isolation. Employers must not ask employees who are needing to self-isolate to come into work.
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If staff can't work from home, employers must ensure any self-isolating employee (who has COVID-19 or has been identified as a contact of a positive case) is receiving sick pay and give them the option to use their paid leave pays if they prefer.
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The NHS test and trace service will provide a notification that can be used as evidence that someone has been told to self-isolate. For further information on Test and Trace please see: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-workplace-guidance.
Downloadable poster - Test & Trace
Downloadable poster - R Rate
NHS COVID-19 app - Test and Trace
The NHS Test and Trace app provides users local risk information faster, alerting them if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive and very importantly has a built-in QR scanner to check-in at venues.
To participate, you should create and display a QR code if you are:
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a business, place of worship or community organisation with a physical location that is open to the public
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an event which is taking place in a physical location
If you have more than one venue, you need to create a separate QR code for each location. You can add multiple locations in the service.
Click here for instructions on how to download the QR poster for use in your business. Click here to be directed to the .GOV website where you can download your poster.
For more information, and commonly asked questions around the data and its use, please see: www.covid19.nhs.uk
For more information pprotection@solihull.gov.uk or 0121 704 8018
Re-opening advice from the Food Standards Agency.
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Business Guidance
Accidents in the workplace have a cost to those personally involved and economically. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) site contains information on all areas of business and industry to assist duty holders in meeting their legal duty under The Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974.https://www.hse.gov.uk/
Those businesses wishing to carry out Acupuncture, Tattooing, Skin Piercing and Electrolysis must be registered under The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and follow the bylaws that regulate the provision of such activities. Further information regarding skin piercing activities including how to register, fees and bylaws can be found here.
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