News

In this update, we draw your attention to three agricultural grants that opened on the 25 July 2021. The fifth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant (SEISS) has now opened for applications, providing financial support to those who are self-employed or a member of a partnership and continue to be impacted by COVID-19.

Details of both schemes are outlined below.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact your client manager.

COVID-19

Retail Recovery Programme

Six Further Education Colleges in Northern Ireland have partnered with Retail NI to offer tailored training programmes for retail businesses, fully funded by the Department for the Economy. The Retail Recovery Programme will include a webinar series, technical classes and skills-based training to support the recovery of the retail sector.

This programme has been created to help local retail businesses to develop their marketing, branding, digital and entrepreneurial skills whilst gaining desirable qualifications from level 2 through to level 5.
The technical classes will cover a variety of topics, including how to create your brand online, e-commerce, Instagram for retail, visual merchandising, customer service, marketing and much more.

Interested businesses must contact Debbie Scott (dscott@serc.ac.uk) to book their place.

Click here to read more about the Retail Recovery Programme.

Fifth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Grant 

This fifth grant of the SEISS scheme has opened for applications and will cover the period from May 2021 to September 2021 and will be available to eligible self-employed individuals or a member of a partnership.

 The deadline for complete applications is Thursday 30 September 2021.

 For further information, click here.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furlough)

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until Thursday 30th September 2021. 
Claims for furlough days in July 2021 must be made by 16 August 2021.

‘We’re Good to Go’ – Tourism Industry Standard

Northern Ireland tourism providers can now become accredited with the ‘We’re Good to Go’ industry standard mark. This accreditation is a UK-wide industry standard and consumer mark, providing reassurance to businesses, customers and communities that safe working guidelines in relation to COVID-19 have been implemented.

Over 1,800 businesses in Northern Ireland have already received the accreditation and all businesses operating within the visitor economy can apply. Eligible businesses include accommodation providers, visitor attractions, restaurants and pubs, business conference and events venues and tour and coach operators.

To obtain the mark businesses must complete the registration process through the “We’re Good to Go” website and complete several steps to verify the have put the necessary processes in place to re-open safely.

Agricultural and Farming Support Packages – Deadline Approaching

In April 2021, the Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots MLA announced three financial support packages would open for agricultural businesses impacted by COVID-19. These schemes have been developed for farming and agriculture businesses who have been most affected by the drop in prices across potato, cull sow and wool markets.

Applications will close on Thursday 12 August at midnight for the Cull Sow and Wool Support schemes. The Potato Support Scheme will continue to accept applications until midnight on Wednesday 18 August 2021.

For further information, click here to read our website article.
 
EU Exit

Customs Handling Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) Phased out from 31 August

The use of CHIEF for declaring goods brought into NI from outside the UK and EU by airfreight is being phased out from 31 August 2021. The Customs Declaration Service (CDS) will replace the CHIEF service.

You can choose to use the CDS service for declaring imports and exports in and out of Northern Ireland now. From Tuesday 31 August, you must use the Customs Declarations Service to declare goods brought into Northern Ireland by airfreight.

For further guidance on this change and if you feel you will not be ready to use the Customs Declaration Service, you’ll need to use the Trader Support Service.

Other Support

Farm Business Improvement Scheme (FBIS-C)

The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is asking farming businesses to submit online Expression of Interest (EOI) applications, which sets out an eligible proposed capital spend project.

DAERA has indicated that should a second tranche of FBIS-C Tier 2 open for applications, the online EOI application process is the first stage in applying for the support and must be completed by 4pm on Friday 13 August by anyone who intends to make a full application.

For further information, click here to read our website article.

Mid Ulster Council Digital First Programme

Mid Ulster District Council’s Digital First Programme will provide help to businesses in the development of digital platforms, improving customer engagement and helping to grow your business online. 

Eligible businesses accepted onto the council programme will receive a free digital audit to identify their specific business requirements, up to four days specialist one-to-one support to build their digital capacity and a digital action plan to continue their digital development.

Eligibility:

• To be located in the Mid Ulster District Council Area
• To be a micro or small business (employ less than 50 people)
• Be actively trading for 12 months
• Not be eligible to receive similar support elsewhere

For further details, click here.

InterTradeIreland E-Merge Programme

The E-Merge programme provides £2500/€2800 fully funded consultancy support to help businesses develop online sales and eCommerce solutions

Support is provided across a range of areas including website management, promotions, selling online and online payment systems.

For further details, click here.

Innovate UK – Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge

As part of the UK Research Innovation, Innovate UK will invest in projects building talent for the future. The aim of this competition is to provide funding for several ideas that can fill gaps in skills, talent and training for the power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) industry.

Up to £25,000 is available to support each successful project. To be eligible, your proposal must deliver a dynamic intervention which will realistically and significantly meet a UK PEMD talent requirement.

Eligible projects must:

• Start on 1 February 2022
• End on 30 April 2022
• Last Up to 3 months
• Carry out its project work in the UK
• Be carried out in the UK

To lead a project or work alone, your organisation must:

• Be a UK registered business of any size, research organisation, charity or public sector organisation
• Carry out its project work in the UK
• Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

The competition will close on Wednesday 15 September 2021.

For further information, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact your client manager.