We’ve pulled together some useful materials and resources to help you and your team in these challenging time. We will be regularly keeping this page up to date with latest information and content as the situation emerges.
LAST UPDATE: 23/12/20
Information relating to returning to work
- At Huddle, we have outlined our guideliness and safety precautions, click here to read these.
- The UK goverment have released advice on returning to offices here.
- Employers are expected to carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment, this can be found here.
General information relating to health & hygine
Information relating to business support measures
UK government business information
UK government support for business
UK goverment support for self employed people
VAT savings advice (from KPMG)
Information on the government’s job retention scheme (from Eversheds)
Information on business rates relief (from BCLP)
Advice and support for local busineses (from LBH&F)
Support for West London businesses (from West London Business)
HMRC have set up a Coronavirus helpline (0800 0159 559) for self-employed and businesses to provide advice on your tax and any benefits you can claim. HMRC are running webinars on how to make claims under the Job Retention Scheme (furloughing). The webinar is also available to watch on YouTube at any time, and is 20 minutes long.
The Government have launched an easy to use online tool to assist businesses in identifying what support measures are available for them.
The Government have also launched a new Bounce Back Loans scheme providing interest-free loans for small businesses that is 100% backed by the government. The deadline for applications has been extended to January 31st 2021. The key information includes:
- SMEs can borrow £2,000-£50,000, with the total relating to turn-over.
- The application process will not be complex, and payments will be made quickly.
- There will be no fees or interest to pay for the first year, with loan terms up to 6 years.
- No repayments will be due during the first 12 months.
Companies House have put in place various measures to assist businesses. These include a temporarily pause on the strike off process to prevent companies being dissolved, and an automatic 3 months extension to file accounts if it’s for reasons relating to COVID-19.
We have also attached the Small Business Rates Relief Application Form for the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
Hammersmith and Fulham Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG)
Applications for the Hammersmith & Fulham Council Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) opened on 17th December and close 11:59 on Thursday 7th January.
This grant will be available to businesses which are excluded from the other grant schemes. The grant intends to help businesses to pay their fixed costs considering the national lockdown from 5 November to 2 December 2020.
This grant is available to support:
- Businesses that were not legally required to close during the lockdown, but were severely impacted by restrictions
- Businesses that were required to close during the lockdown, but are not registered for business rates
Please note that these funds cannot be used to pay wages.
Our business advisers are offering free business support
The London Growth Hub is providing FREE Business Support to help London businesses.
Click here to read more about this.
We have a London Growth Hub business adviser at Huddle, Raj Tandon. Please feel free to contact him directly raj.tandon@growthhub.london or you can book an appointment with him online click here
Some tips for our members
Remote working tools:
Working with remote teams can be tricky, but there are some great tools to help! Here are a few of our favorites!
- If you already use Office 365, Microsoft Teams can easily be setup to share files, collaborate and message via text, audio or video.
- Another great tool is Zoom‘s basic free package with up to 40 minute meetings with audio and video connectivity.
- If you don’t have access to Office 365 – you can use Dropbox or Google Drive to temporarily share files.
Online Training:
We have partnered with Go1 to offer free courses for all your employees as part of our PERKS offering. Speak to the Huddle team to find out more.
The government have launched a new online learning platform, The Skills Toolkit. Its focus is numeracy and digital skills (quite a wide range of the latter), and it’s designed to enable people to learn from home more easily, including those who are currently furloughed.
Huddle Telephones:
If you are not coming into your office space – we can handle your calls so you do not miss any important messages! Check out our virtual office services here.
You can collect your office calls directly from home or on the go with our mobile application.
A reminder of our measures at Huddle
We have put unprecedented measures in place to ensure that you can access your workplace safely at Huddle, but we ask that you and your employees work from home where possible and follow social distancing guidance.
Please keep yourselves and your teams safe!
The Huddle team