COVID Update 27

Our previous stocks were quickly purchased so Hinckley BID have been hunting far and wide for the best size at the best price and can now offer 1 litre bottles with pelican pumps at cost, for just £12.50 +VAT. Please e-mail steve@hinckleybid.co.uk to reserve.

Whilst Social Distancing is in place, could you please NOT put any signage outside (or near to) your premises. This will make it much safer for pedestrians to social distance.

Our thanks to HBBC for investing in the changes required to our Station Road Toilets which should re-open by June 15th. A ‘one in, one out’ system must be followed

A number of businesses did not receive the initial £10k (or £25k) Government Grant as they pay their rates within their rent to their landlord. After much lobbying, a Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund has been created by Government and Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council has been allocated an additional £1,092,000 to support businesses across the Borough.

The scheme aims to provide support for businesses through the coronavirus pandemic alongside the Small Business Grant and the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Grant Funds, which remain open for eligible ratepayers to apply who have not yet claimed. Businesses must have been trading on 11 March 2020 and not have received any other government funding (except the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme).

The grant awards will start at £500 with a maximum potential grant of £25,000. The council aims to make payments the week commencing 22 June 2020.

The scheme will provide support to businesses that fall into five main priority areas:

• Small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces
• Regular market traders with fixed building costs
• Bed & Breakfasts which pay council tax
• Charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief
• Suppliers of the retail, hospitality and leisure sector who were not considered eligible for the previous grants

Applications can be made from Monday 1 June until Sunday 14 June. All information including the policy and local priorities and how to apply for a discretionary grant is available online here: www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/discretionarygrant.

The Police are searching for whoever is spraying graffiti tags around the Town centre – 17 alone were found yesterday. If you come across any near your premises, and if you see anyone doing this, could you please e-mail phillip.wane6140@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk
and copy to steve@hinckleybid.co.uk.

The Tag words used are: BKEN BRON BULK SPACE and can be seen in the attached photos.

Graffiti Tag Example 1 (jpg)
Graffiti Tag Example 2 (jpg)
Graffiti Tag Example 3 (jpg)

The government is mulling a year-long suspension of Sunday trading restrictions across England in a bid to boost the economy.

The move is being considered alongside a raft of measures to help boost local economies across the country, which have been laid low by the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime minister Boris Johnson, chief adviser Dominic Cummings, chancellor Rishi Sunak and business secretary Alok Sharma are all understood to support the measure, according to The Times.

Current Sunday trading laws limit shops with retail space over 280 square metres to a maximum of six hours of trading – under new legislation larger supermarkets would be able to open for longer.

The possible move has its detractors, however. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said shop staff were “deeply worried” about what this move could mean for the amount of time frontline workers have with their families.

If you are interested in any training course for yourselves and/or your staff, please advise toni@hinckleybid.co.uk
These could be Marketing, IT, First Aid or anything else to do with running a business.

Employers must carry out a Covid 19 risk assessment. This means identifying what activities or situations might cause transmission of the virus, thinking about who could be at risk, deciding how likely it is someone could be exposed to it and acting to remove the activity or situation or if this is not possible controlling the risk. Staff and trade unions, when present, need to be consulted and involved in the process.

This also applies for self employed people where they work with or near other people.

It is a legal requirement that the Covid 19 risk assessment is written down where there are five or more employees.

If there are less than five employees you do not need to write this down but you may wish to do this to show what you have done.

To help employers/self employed people carry out a Covid 19 risk assessment there are several different guidance documents available on GOV.UK for different sectors, including shops. This is non statutory guidance and provides a framework and practical points to consider.

Each business is different and will need to look at the specific actions that need to be taken depending on size, type, layout etc.

When managing contacts with customers, visitors and contractors in shops there are 18 steps in the Government guidance which will usually be needed to minimise contacts during visits to stores. There are a further 5 steps in terms of making sure that people understand what they need to do to maintain safety.

This includes determining from the available floorspace how many customers can reasonably follow 2 metre social distancing in the store and any outside selling areas.

Limiting the number of customers in the store.

Encouraging customers to use hand sanitiser (or wash hand basins if available) as they enter to reduce the risk of transmission by touching products when browsing. This may be by a customer cleaning station with suitable signage.

BID have hand sanitiser available to purchase, for your business to use.

Please look at all points in the guidance which may be relevant to your business.

There is also guidance from the British Retail Consortium/USDAW on social distancing

If you are re-opening next week, and haven’t told us yet – please e-mail Toni@hinckleybid.co.uk. We want to promote each and every business so please stay in touch with offers, opening days and times and anything else you feel relevant.

Please remember, if you are part of the FREE BID Recycling Scheme, be ready and have your recycling outside of your premises in the bags provided for next Tuesday morning. If you need bags, please e-mail Martina@hinckleybid.co.uk also with your mobile ‘phone number so that she can contact you regarding collection from the office. If you haven’t been in the Town yet, the hanging baskets look great, the weeds have been sprayed and we are ready.

Please stay safe and well and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

The Hinckley BID Team