With rumours that some sector unlocking may start soon (my guess is from May 5th subject to the contagion remaining under control) and with a growing number of businesses offering a ‘click, pay and collect service’ it is clearly important that businesses keep alert for those signs. In this Update 18, we also include some offers of help and tuition for our Hinckley BID businesses.

We know that Business Insurance is probably the last thing on your mind in these uncertain times, but please be aware of some potential dangers. These may be easily resolved by just a phone call to your broker or insurer – and often with no increase in premium.

Homeworking
Does your policy cover working from home? Are staff taking home laptops and other IT equipment? Check with your provider if your policy covers this or if it needs to be extended.

Unoccupied premises
Insurance policies in the UK normally only allow cover for an unoccupied premises for 14 to 30 days maximum. If you are going to be out of your premises for longer than that, check with your provider whether your policy covers this or can be extended.

Changing/adapting business activity
Are you changing what you are making or adapting your business? Check with your provider whether your policy covers this or can be extended to cover your new activities.

There are signs that the lockdown may be eased sooner rather than later for certain business sectors. It’s what you do now to prepare for the return that is a major key to both survival and success.

This is why we are promoting the skills of Mark Jennings and Ed Cooper, both Business Coaches at Action Coach based in Hinckley. They have kindly agreed to provide all BID members with an opportunity of receiving a complimentary coaching session. You can discuss where you need help the most and how Mark or Ed may be able to support you and your business. You can ask them to share how they are working with many of their “local” clients right now to help them grow through this crisis, and what results their clients have achieved that led them to be recognised as award winning and top performing coaches for the last few years.

There is no obligation to commit to anything, they are “Gifting their time to help local business owners”. Please contact Mark or Ed directly on: markjennings@actioncoach.com or edcooper@actioncoach.com quoting code: BID GIFT

Improve your knowledge and skills by attending their fully-funded webinars which offer a host of useful information and skills to help take your business forward. Details are shown in the following link...

We have now compiled a list of both our BID member essential businesses/services and cafes/restaurants/pubs/takeaways that are still operating a level of service during the COVID-19 outbreak. For further details on each business please click on either links below.

• Essential Businesses/Services
• Takeaways

If YOU are still offering either an essential service or food takeaway service but are not included on either list, please let us know asap by providing the below information:

• Business name
• Service available
• Current/revised opening times
• Contact telephone number/email address
• PDF Menu (if offering takeaway)

When the majority of Grants were £10,000, you can image the amount of work involved in distributing £17,500,000 so far which has just been completed by the teams at HBBC. It was not just the distribution of application forms, but the follow-up security check on each application as laid down by central Government which led them to burn the midnight oil.

At Hinckley BID, we are glad that we have been able to help around 100 businesses with their claims and together with our Board of the Hinckley Town Centre Partnership we congratulate HBBC Finance on their hard and often difficult ‘business owner tracing’ work, regularly going that extra mile to help our hard-pressed businesses.

As a nation you will know that we are now making good progress in the battle against coronavirus, with fewer hospital admissions, fewer COVID-19 patients in ICU and real signs now that we are passing through the peak. This is down to the sacrifices and efforts that we have all made, and for that we would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ for the part that you have played.

Whilst we are planning for a return to normal trading, we are aware that the battle has not yet been won so if you have any questions during these difficult times please do not hesitate to get in touch with us, the team’s direct e-mail and mobile telephone numbers are as follows:

Steve Wegerif (BID Director)
steve@hinckleybid.co.uk
07709 394841

Toni Scott
toni@hinckleybid.co.uk
07821 123026

Martina Smullen
martina@hinckleybid.co.uk
07496 839304

Best wishes, stay safe and well.

The Hinckley BID Team