This Friday, 31st July, join the #FindYourFutureFit event, an opportunity to explore careers, advice and jobs showcased by Job Centre Plus in Leicestershire and Northampton.

This is a Youth Careers virtual event from 9am - 6pm on Twitter. 

There will also be a live Q&A between 2pm and 6pm. 

All you have to do is use #FindYourFutureFit on Twitter this Friday to take part.

The Leicestershire Business Recovery Fund has been launched to provide support for rural businesses and independent retail businesses to continue to aid them overcome the struggles caused by COVID-19. 

Grants are available between £2,000 and £10,000. The scheme will provide 50% grant support, with the other 50% as match funding.

The scheme is managed by Leicestershire County Council and funded through the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Business Rate Pool, and has been set up to ensure business recovery, including supporting businesses to diversify and increase their digital skills.

Eligibility criteria applies including, but not limited to:

• Business must be located within, or locating to the administrative area of Leicestershire (businesses within the Leicester City boundary are ineligible)
• Employ less than 50 full time equivalent (FTE) employees i.e. a Micro or small business
• Apply for minimum of £2,000 and maximum of £10,000

The government has announced a new grant scheme for small businesses to help kickstart the tourism industry.

A confirmed £10 million of new funding will boost tourism in England for renewal and recovery.

The allocation of the Kickstarting Tourism fund for Leicester & Leicestershire will be administered by the LLEP Business Gateway Growth Hub who are keen to evaluate the demand for a grant scheme specifically aimed at enterprises in the Visitor Economy sector.  Grants would typically be in the range of £1,000 to £3,000.

The programme is open only to Small and Medium sized (SME) businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire.

The funding is not anticipated to be available until late August 2020
 
The kinds of activities the grants could support include:

• Specialist advice which businesses could call on to address their immediate needs in response to the impact of COVID-19 e.g. HR, accountants, legal, financial, Health & Safety, IT/digital or sector specialists.
• Supporting businesses to develop ways to improve their productivity for example digital tools, eCommerce Solutions, CRM platforms or commissioning new photography, video or virtual tours to better promote their offer online.

 
To help assess demand, the Growth Hub would appreciate your time to complete a short questionnaire via the link below.