Message from the Leaders of Adur & Worthing Councils

Dear Resident,

We sincerely hope that you are coping in the best way you can during these terrible times and that your loved ones are safe and well.

As Leaders of Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council we have refrained from communicating directly with you until now. You have all had plenty of messages and information about what to do during this outbreak.

However we thought it time to tell you that our staff, who we share to serve you all, are working as hard as they can to ensure crucial services are maintained as far as if possible.

Perhaps the most visible example of this is that you will have seen our refuse trucks still out every day collecting your waste. Touch wood so far we have not had to cancel rounds and we hope this can continue. 

We also want to tell you that we understand entirely the pressures you are all under. As members of the community with families of our own we know only too well the worry around jobs, bills and health that most of you are experiencing.

We are ensuring we make the strongest possible case to the government for financial help so we continue to support you, our own finances, like many others, having taken a hit.

We have established a series of Neighbourhood Teams out in the community working with the marvellous volunteers already out there so that we can be sure to help the most vulnerable of our community whether that be simply having someone to talk to or support getting food or for guidance on finance.

On the latter we know that we are all having to watch every penny now so we wanted to assure you that the money you pay for Council services is being spent extremely wisely.

Your Council Tax is paying for those refuse trucks we mentioned earlier, the police officers who are currently working around the clock to keep us all safe, social welfare staff looking after the most vulnerable in society and a whole host of other services such as housing repairs, ensuring food safety remains paramount and working to support businesses and employers to protect every job we can.

We know this is an anxious time for you and want to assure you that most Council services are operating as near to normal as is possible in the circumstances although we ask you to understand that response times to any query you have might be longer. 

We wish you all the best. Keep safe, stay well

Cllr Neil Parkin, Leader of Adur District Council

Cllr Daniel Humphreys, Leader of Worthing Borough Council

Appeal for volunteers goes out across Adur and Worthing

A fresh call has gone out from Adur & Worthing Councils for volunteers to join a network of community support groups helping the vulnerable during the coronavirus crisis.

Hundreds of volunteers have already signed up to the support groups with tasks including food shopping, advice on accessing health care, guidance on financial assistance or simply someone to talk to. But more are needed as increasing numbers contact the Councils for help.

Adur & Worthing Councils are coordinating their response with other authorities, including West Sussex County Council, the NHS and the voluntary sector.

Vulnerable residents, or relatives acting on behalf of those in need, are also able to request help using an online form or by ringing a telephone hotline.

Those needing support may be residents who are over 70, those living alone or caring for someone, those suffering acute isolation, financial hardship or those at risk of imminent homelessness or domestic violence.

Within these groups the support will be focused most on those people who are living on their own and self-isolating, without support networks of friends and family. 

Government launches Business Support website

Central Government has launched a helpful Business Support webpage which includes Frequently Asked Questions Many key questions are being clarified.  Business can access the FAQs here: https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/faqs/

Impact of COVID-19 on Sussex Businesses Survey

Sussex Chamber of Commerce, working in partnership with Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Surrey Chambers of Commerce, has put together a series of surveys for businesses to complete which seeks to better understand the continued impact of the coronavirus outbreak on businesses in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.

The responses to this survey will help us to get a clearer picture of what is happening within our business community and provide vital business intelligence to the Government.

This survey consists of 15 questions and should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. 

Click here to complete the survey

Government Grants – Update from Adur & Worthing Councils

We are now finalising our system for administering the central government grants and undertaking final testing. Businesses will be asked to upload their information onto a centralised system to allow us to (a) verify eligibility and then (b) process the grant payment. This system will be released later this week / early next week.  

Businesses can begin to undertake their own eligibility checks by reviewing the guidance here.  Businesses should use this guidance to help identify what grant they are applying for. We would also like to draw your attention to Annex B which shows the information we will require in order to confirm eligibility and subsequently pay the grant.  

Please begin to have these details to hand & a copy of your latest business rates bill, for when we request it, as this will help speed up the process. 

All local authorities have been reminded that any claims paid, which are subsequently found to be ineligible, businesses will be required to repay the grant.

Coast to Capital have also launched a grant scheme for businesses.    The Coast to Capital Backing Business Grants is a £2 million fund that has been set up to provide grants to small businesses and social enterprises in our area who have been affected by COVID-19.  Applications opening soon.   

Please see the governments 5 Steps To Take Today and their dedicated business support webpage which includes FAQs for further help and assistance. 

Thank you for your patience and i'm pleased to say we are nearly there. 

The Coast to Capital Backing Business Grants is a £2 million fund that has been set up to provide grants to independent small businesses and social enterprises (excluding charities) in our area who have been affected by COVID-19.

Applications now open.

We anticipate that this fund will be able to help up to 400 organisations in the Coast to Capital area. Applications are open until the fund has been fully allocated. There are a number of other initiatives available through HM Government therefore, applicants are encouraged to make use of these where available to help their businesses.

If you are an independent small business or social enterprise (excluding charities) based in West Sussex, Brighton & Hove, or East Surrey (Epsom and Ewell, Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead, Tandridge) with 5-50 FTE (full time equivalent) workforce who has been trading for over 2 years and have an annual turnover of under £10m, you can apply for a grant of £5,000-£25,000 to fund specific measures to help you to adapt, evolve and innovate to the various economic impacts brought about by the pandemic.

Applicants must use the grant to implement one or more of the following measures:

• Adapt their operations to remote working. This might include acquisition of computer hardware or software or other physical measures to support the separation of staff and deliver sustained operations;
• Evolve their business model to boost and retain cash-flow. This might include firms which are no longer able to sell directly to customers and need to add new delivery or marketing functions;
• Innovate their business model to meet the new demands of consumers during the COVID-19 scenario.

The grant is available for all sectors, however we will be particularly interested to receive applications from businesses working in the sectors in which our economy has been particularly impacted by recent economic events (i.e. aviation and aviation supply chain, tourism, hospitality and leisure and the service economy).

Applicants will be required to submit the latest filed company accounts and latest management accounts along with the application form for the business.

The grants can be used for capital or revenue costs, or a mixture of both – there are no restrictions on the ratio of capital and revenue. The grant will be made in a one-off advance payment and will need to be evidence after spend has taken place.

The grant funding can be used to procure any professional assistance in order to introduce measures to adapt, evolve and innovate in their proposals. The Coast to Capital Growth Hub Team will be actively involved with the business during and post grant award to offer any business support requirements.

The grants cannot be used to pay for salaries or staffing costs.

The grant awarded does not have to be matched funded and can be for 100% of the cost of the investment or used with the businesses own funds to deliver the proposed outcome(s).

The grants will be made available on a first-come-first-served basis.

Coast to Capital’s decision on all grants will be final, there is no appeals process outside of the normal complaints policy which can be found on the Coast to Capital website.

Coast to Capital reserve the right to change the grant criteria and/or process at any time.

How to apply

The funding criteria can be viewed in the related resources box to the right.

1. Download and complete the eligibility checker, which can be found in the related resources box (to the right), and send to funding@coast2capital.org.uk
2. Once your eligibility has been verified by a member of the team, we will email you an application form to complete
3. If you are unable to successfully complete our eligibility checker, please contact our Growth Hub team for business support
4. Additional support relating to COVID-19 can be found on our Growth Hub website

Welcome to Inside Worthing Community Magazines

Inside Worthing is the umbrella name as for three publications within the Worthing area. All publications are A5, full colour glossy magazines that are free of charge to the reader. With a reputation for looking good enough to keep, some readers report that they have kept all back copies! The magazines and their distribution are funded by advertising, but the real heart of the magazines is Community. Charity and Community Interest Groups who use the magazines to publicise their activities with reduced rates and often free of charge.

Inside Worthing began as Inside Broadwater in January 2017. 7000 copies are printed every month and distributed to homes and businesses in Broadwater, Charmandean and Offington.

Inside Tarring was launched in January 2018. 5500 are printed every month and distributed to homes and businesses in Tarring..

Inside Durrington was launched in October 2019 with a distribution of 7000. Although there are some similarities to the magazines, each area has it’s own community buzz.

Inside Worthing is a rather grand title for what are essentially only three areas of Worthing, however, the name is future proof. In time there are hopes to develop community magazines for East Worthing, West Worthing, Central Worthing and Goring. If any of these areas are of interest, please get in touch!”

Click here to visit Inside Worthing's website 

Piglets Pantry rip up their business plan

So, coronavirus - didn't see that one coming, and whilst we have a disaster recovery plan this didn't quite cut the mustard. We are now in week 2 of pie-solation and finding our feet in this new strange world.

Up until 9 days ago we had a thriving business in the B2B market serving 67 Clients mostly in Stadia, Events, Hospitality and Leisure - all wiped out overnight. After the initial 24-hour shock had settled in it was time for Plan B.

24 hours later, late-night tech discussions and our website was live. 48 hours later and we had a seamless connectivity to our production systems (which is just as well, manual data entry as an MD is not a high point of my life).

72 hours later and the orders steadily came flooding in, combined with support from our amazing friends at Brighton & Hove Albion the outpouring of love from our local fans, PR and Press coverage and a smart #SOS #Survival #Pack idea and we were in business.

Later the first week, we launched 10% discount codes for all our loyal fans and a very special 50% discount code for the amazing NHS staff. We are also supporting and helping people that cannot buy certain items to keep them safe and well.

Day 7 completed and finished designs on our #Easter #Indoor #Hamper promoting the #StayatHome campaign echoed by the Government. Again offering 10% and a pre-order service to support everyone at home.

Day 8 - First stab at Facebook Advertising we launched our AD on Saturday and as we speak, it is getting lots of attention.

What does the future hold? Every day is a new dawn and a new opportunity to look at the business in a different light. We cannot know how long this is for, but we will continue to support everyone during this difficult time.

Joanna Hunter - Food Lover & Owner of Piglets Pantry www.pigletspantry.co.uk

New law: Carrying over holiday

The government has introduced a temporary new law to deal with coronavirus disruption.

Employees and workers can carry over up to 4 weeks’ paid holiday over a 2-year period, if they cannot take holiday due to coronavirus.

For example, this could be because:

• they’re self-isolating or are too sick to take holiday before the end of their leave year
• they’ve been temporarily sent home as there’s no work (‘laid off’ or ‘put on furlough’)
• they’ve had to continue working and could not take paid holiday

Some employers will already have an agreement to carry over paid holiday. This law does not affect any agreements already in place.

If an employee or worker leaves their job or is dismissed during the 2-year period, any untaken paid holiday must be added to their final pay (‘paid in lieu’).

If someone is temporarily sent home because there’s no work

If someone is temporarily sent home because there’s no work they’ll continue to build up (‘accrue’) holiday in the usual way.

Agreeing how extra holiday is carried over

If employers do not already have an agreement in place, they can decide whether they’ll allow extra holiday (more than the 4 weeks’ paid holiday) to be carried over.

Extra holiday may include:

• the remaining 1.6 weeks of statutory annual leave
• holiday that’s more than the legal minimum

Employees and workers should check their employment contract or talk to their employer to find out what they’re entitled to.

Reaching an agreement

If the workplace has a recognised trade union, or there are employee representatives who work with the employer on these matters, the employer should involve them in agreeing changes. 

If any agreement is made, it’s a good idea for it to be in writing.

Employers should get legal advice if they’re not sure whether to allow extra holiday to be carried over. 

Bank holidays

If employees and workers cannot take bank holidays off due to coronavirus, they should use the holiday at a later date in their leave year.

If this is not possible, bank holidays can be included in the 4 weeks’ paid holiday that can be carried over. This holiday can be taken at any time over a 2-year period.

Article from Acas: https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus/using-holiday?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Coronavirus%20guidance%20%20Carrying%20over%20paid%20holiday&utm_content=Coronavirus%20guidance%20%20Carrying%20over%20paid%20holiday+CID_5c218c0ee4901de111f2e503dce50ac5&utm_source=Acas%20National%20Email%20Marketing%20Live&utm_term=View%20further%20details%20and%20Acas%20guidance