Author: sme-admin

Supporting jobs As part of the plan to support jobs, a Job Retention Bonus will be introduced to help firms keep furloughed workers. UK Employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of 31 January 2021. A new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme will also be launched to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people across the country. Those aged 16-24, claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment, will be eligible. Funding available for each six-month job placement will cover 100% of the National Minimum…

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The sudden arrival of COVID-19 has changed the world we live in and SMEs have had to deal with unprecedented problems such as having to shut up shop with virtually all income disappearing overnight. As someone with four decades of experience of running businesses, or helping them to invest and grow, I keep getting asked about the impact the Covid-19 crisis is going to have on UK SMEs. In the short term the Government has stepped in to support businesses with a range of support measures such as the Coronavirus Interruption Business Loan Scheme (CIBLS) and the Bounce Bank Loan…

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Businesses will have the flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work part time from 1st July as part of the government’s plan to re-open the UK and kick-start our economy. From yesterday, a month earlier than previously announced, employers have the flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part time basis. Individual firms will decide the hours and shift patterns their employees will work on their return, so that they can decide on the best approach for them – and will be responsible for paying their wages while in work. The government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme…

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SoftOne Technologies S.A., a member of the €2.1bn Euros Olympia Group, has taken another key step in continuing its successful international expansion strategy by entering the UK with its award-winning Soft1 ERP platform. SoftOne is partnering in the UK with Smart Cloud Software, which boasts more than 20 years’ experience in the UK software market and focuses on helping companies implement best of breed cloud-based ERP and CRM software to deliver tangible business outcomes. Soft1 ERP is an innovative, powerful and proven business transformation platform which is trusted daily by 130,000 end users in over 20,000 organisations across Eastern Europe,…

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Calvin Dexter Financial Solutions came to Just Cashflow when his client, a producer of plant based ‘meat’ products, required funding to support the business while awaiting investment.  The client’s business was formed in 2017 and they started generating revenue in 2019, honing in on the increasing popularity of the plant based meat-free meats industry. Calvin was introduced to the client by their accountant, and was asked to help source funding for working capital while awaiting additional investment into the businesses.  However due to the embryonic nature of the business, which was in a loss making, development phase, it precluded Calvin…

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out further changes to lockdown measures in England to enable people to see more of their friends and family, help businesses get back on their feet and get people back in their jobs – Tuesday 23rd June. From Saturday 4th July, the Prime Minister has announced that pubs, restaurants and hairdressers will be able to reopen, providing they adhere to COVID Secure guidelines. From the same date, he has set out that two households will be able to meet up in any setting with social distancing measures, and that people can now enjoy staycations in…

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The UK Government has announced new measures and proposed trade agreements that will revitalise the agriculture, food and drink industry as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. A “bounce back” plan of trade measures has been announced today to help support businesses that have been impacted by coronavirus. The new strategic interventions jointly announced by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will offer immediate support to help businesses in the industry grow their trade activity overseas. The agriculture, food and drink industry is the UK’s largest manufacturing industry and plays a vital role in…

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Fiera Real Estate and Cubex have secured a major investment deal for their Halo, landmark green office building at Finzels Reach in Bristol. Prominent legal firm Osborne Clarke will move its Bristol office from its current location in Temple Quay to Halo. Tesco Pension Investment has paid nearly £70m in a forward funding deal for the innovative 116,000 sq ft, Grade A office, currently under construction as part of the Finzels Reach regeneration project. Halo is set to be one of the greenest office buildings in the UK, with the developers targeting a BREEAM Outstanding accreditation to meet the toughest…

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The world’s largest and first commercial liquid air battery facility is planned for Trafford, Greater Manchester. Backed by £10 million of government investment, the revolutionary CryoBattery liquid-air energy (LAES) plant in Manchester, will be developed jointly by Carlton Power and Highview and will help the UK make the most of the energy generated from its world-class solar and wind sectors. Highview Power’s cryogenic energy storage systems, which use liquid air as the storage medium, are the only long-duration energy storage solution available today that are locatable and can offer multiple gigawatt-hours of storage. That represents weeks’ worth of storage, not just…

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The UK and US governments have signed a new agreement paving the way for US companies to operate from UK spaceports and export space launch technology. UK Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-proliferation, Christopher Ford, signed the US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement, which will enable U.S. companies to participate in space launches from the United Kingdom, on Tuesday 16 June 2020. The Agreement means US space and technology companies throughout the supply chain can contribute to and benefit from the commercial opportunities offered by the UK space sector which already employs 42,000…

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