Kickstart Scheme and Peer Networks

Kickstart Scheme

Employers can now receive full funding to support job placements for young people, within your business. The new Government Kickstart scheme aims to support new jobs for young people on Universal Credit, who are at risk of long term unemployment. Placements will be 6 months long and will be fully-funded for 25 hours a week.

If you have less than 30 job placements available then contact Merton Chamber (info@mertonchamber.co.uk or apply online), who act as a Gateway organisation to group employer requests together and submit your application.

Peer Networks

A national peer-to-peer networking programme for SME leaders that want to grow and develop their organisation for future success. Delivered locally by Merton Chamber of Commerce in association with Business Clan, the programme creates diverse cohort groups of individuals to collaboratively work through common business issues.

Eligibility: A London based business who employs five or more, and has a turnover of over £100,000 and has been trading for more than one year.

Interested in being part of a dynamic peer network? Contact diana@mertonchamber.co.uk for more information.

Peer Networks is a national programme delivered locally by Merton Chamber and Business Clan on behalf of the London Business Hub.

Merton Council Recovery Grant Scheme

Merton Council Consult with Businesses on Business Plan

Businesses that have been required to close or adapt due to the national restrictions between 5 November – 2 December 2020, may be eligible for the new local economic support announced by the government. Eligible businesses may be entitled to a grant for each 28 day period under national restrictions.

This support is still available if your business has adapted to offer takeaways or ‘click and collect’ products, as your ‘substantive’ business is considered closed.

Grants will be based on the rateable value of the property as at 5 November 2020. The grant amounts for each 28 day period under national restrictions are as follows.

If your business is eligible and has a property with a rateable value of:

  • £15,000 or less, you will receive a one-off cash grant of £1,334
  • over £15,000 but less than £51,000, you will receive a one-off cash grant of £2,000
  • £51,000 and above, you will receive a one-off cash grant of £3,000

Grant income is taxable. The Local Restrictions Support Grant will need to be included as income in the tax return of the business.

Your business may be eligible for a grant from Merton Council if it:

  • occupies property in Merton on which it pays business rates, and
  • was open and trading on 4 November 2020, and
  • has been required to close* for at least 4 weeks because of the national lockdown

Before applying you will need to have the following documents available to upload to support your application:

  • proof of identity of sole trader (e.g. passport, driving licence) or limited company (document confirming company name, registered address, company number)
  • bank statement confirming name and address of account holder (this must be dated within the last 3 months)
  • evidence of trading on 4 November 2020 (e.g. recent invoices for sales or services)
  • evidence to confirm property was occupied (e.g. utility bills)

Find out more and apply here.

*Additional Restrictions Grant
An new discretionary grant scheme will be launched by Merton Council in mid December. This will have a short application window, and we don’t have details yet, so please do ensure you stay in touch through our website page, our Linkedin or through the Merton Council newsletter to be able to apply if you are eligible. We will also send a dedicated newsletter about this too when we have the full details.

Talk of the Town 2020

We were delighted to welcome so many participants to our annual Talk of the Town event on Wednesday 11th November.

It was a virtual meeting this year with a terrific turnout and, if you missed the meeting, a recording can be accessed here. (passcode: =V3sqTd!)

 

Helen Clark Bell, Chief Executive said:

It is always a pleasure to speak to businesses about the work that Love Wimbledon BID delivers and to present our Annual Report for 2019/20. It is a challenge to communicate in a short presentation the breadth of our activity but I would like to thank everyone for attending our virtual Talk of the Town event this year, for your questions and for your positive feedback and comments.

 

We heard from two local businesses, Jitesh Patel, CEO of Peldon Rose, who spoke about the future of the workplace and a Q&A with Libby Andrews, Marketing Director of Pho Restaurants, discussing how Covid-19 has impacted their business, how they’ve adapted and the support they’ve received from Love Wimbledon. Sally Warren from Love Wimbledon gave an insight into the placemaking projects we have been working on to contribute to the personality and identity of the town.

 

Jitesh Patel said:

We are going to start seeing the inherent value of creating workspaces because that’s where you create cultures and that’s where you inspire people and nurture talent…Hybrid working was always here…more and more people need a mix between homeworking and a workspace (an office/location) and being located in a place where this can be facilitated is becoming more important.

 

Libby Andrews commented:

Love Wimbledon has always provided us with a connection to the people in Wimbledon. The people who work there, the people who live there…and helped us to communicate to their audience. It feels like a small town coming together in a big city and Love Wimbledon has helped us to keep a face to the brand and not become a faceless chain.

 

Thank you to everyone who was able to join the meeting, links from the presentations are below.

 

Love Wimbledon Annual Report

Covid-19 Hub for Businesses

Consumer Home Page

Secret Wimbledon (includes links to artwork and placemaking)

What’s On

The Office of the Future (Jitesh Patel, CEO Peldon Rose)

 

Security Update

At approximately 14:30 hours on Tuesday 3rd November police discovered a suspicious vehicle in St George’s Car Park.  London’s Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service attended and a large number of streets around St George’s Road were closed.

Using specialist equipment it was established that the vehicle was not suspicious, however, it was a stolen vehicle.  We are aware that the road closures and subsequent evacuations of buildings around St George’s Road caused a fair amount of disruption. We are very grateful, therefore, to all businesses who co-operated so quickly with police requests.

This incident served as a timely reminder for us all to be vigilant and to report any suspicious packages, vehicles or behaviour by calling 999 or 101 (non-emergency number).

Please see www.met.police.uk for further information on the increased terrorist threat level to ‘Severe – an attack is highly likely’.

 

Any Love Wimbledon business which has security concerns, of any type, please contact Kevin Gallagher, Operations Manager, keving@lovewimbledon.org. Love Wimbledon have a number of crime prevention tools available to members.

Make Quicker, Cheaper and Greener Deliveries

Love Wimbledon has collaborated with Cross River Partnership, to offer our BID businesses the opportunity to trial a cargo bike delivery service which allows for quicker and cheaper deliveries, and helps to improve local air quality.

This is a part of Cross River Partnership’s ‘Clean Air Villages’ programme, which offers a free trial to businesses who are interested in transporting deliveries and services via zero-emission methods.

The trial involves use of a cargo bike and rider, for free, for a short period of time to allow businesses to determine whether they would like to take up this delivery mode.

Find out more and sign up by emailing laurajacklin@crossriverpartnership.org.

This is a great opportunity to explore cheaper and sustainable ways to deliver your products/services, given TFL’s new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) regulations, which will affect many business and delivery vehicles from 1st March 2021.

The LEZ will affect any of your suppliers who have larger vehicles (above 3.5 tonnes) and the enforcement of this will begin in March 2021, it will be operating 24/7 so will affect night deliveries too. The daily charge if vehicles aren’t compliant is £100 a day, which could affect costings of deliveries.

The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) operates to encourage the most polluting heavy diesel vehicles driving in London to become cleaner. The LEZ also covers most of Greater London and is separate from the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which is in place in central London and operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year except Christmas Day.