The government have just announced their new ‘Recovery Advice for Business’ scheme, through which small businesses will receive free, one-to-one advice from expert advisers on how they can bounce back from coronavirus (COVID-19) and to prepare for long-term recovery.

The scheme is hosted on the Enterprise Nation website, and backed by thousands of expert professional and business services advisers who are on hand and ready to do their bit in offering bespoke, specialist assistance in the following areas: accountancy, legal, advertising, marketing, recruitment and digital.

Each adviser has offered at least one hour of free advice a month until the end of 2020 which could deliver a lifeline to thousands of SMEs looking for support.

These experts come from some of the UK’s major professional and trade bodies who have signed up to support the scheme, including: The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), the Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales (ICAEW), the Advertising Association, the Law Society and the Management Consultancies Association (MCA).

How Does It Work?

Businesses who wish to access the support, must do so via Enterprise Nation platform. They will then be asked questions on the ‘Make a Plan’ diagnostic tool. This will allow Enterprise Nation to assess and identify both the level and specific areas of support needed.

They will subsequently be directed to a personalised dashboard where they will receive a detailed action plan which will include links to suggested tailored advice and relevant professional advisers willing to help.

Advice will focus on key areas:

• accounting and finance
• people and building a team
• planning, strategy and pivoting
• marketing, PR and social media
• Technology and digital tools

Over 12,000 advisers in the existing Enterprise Nation community are available to provide advice through the platform, with more new professional advisers being signed up specifically to support the scheme.

Enterprise Nation is providing free access to the platform, until 31^st December 2020

Want To Support The Scheme As A Business Expert?

Advisers will need to belong to a professional or trade body and hold valid Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) to join the platform and offer advice. They will then need their Trade Body Coupon Code, demonstrating their membership of a professional body, and the link to the Enterprise Nation adviser sign-up page. This will enable advisers to sign up as part of the programme, for free membership, for the duration of the programme until the end of December 2020. It will also ensure that all advice is provided by appropriate expert advisers.