Plymouth City Council has stepped up its support for businesses to help them recover after damage wrought by the Covid pandemic.
The local authority has announced four new projects which offer businesses a lifeline and support the city’s economic recovery. The aim is to create 50 jobs, 27 social enterprises and support more than 140 individual businesses.
This will involve helping individuals into self-employment or guiding them as they set up new businesses, as well as supporting existing businesses looking to “relaunch” after the interruption caused by coronavirus.
Each of the four business support programmes has its own specific focus:
- Business Start-up Support: Offering advice and support for new business start-ups or re-starts, including workshops, one-to-one support sessions and access to a business start-up specialist. The Business Start-up Support and Inspirational Entrepreneurship Programme will be provided by YTKO.
- Inspirational Entrepreneurship Programme: Designed to increase entrepreneurship, individuals, sole traders and new businesses will be given access to a community enterprise advisor and flexible support that meets their needs
- Digital Pivot Programme: Helping businesses to adopt new digital solutions and adapt to new challenges posed by coronavirus, this will include free workshops and one-to-one advice for business owners. The Digital Pivot Programme is being run by Cosmic, a social enterprise offering digital skills training and services.
- Social Enterprise Support: Supporting those looking to set up social enterprises with advice, provided through one-to-one sessions, group workshops and drop in “surgeries”. Social Enterprise Support will be led by the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
Council Leader Nick Kelly (Conservative) said: “We’re really proud to be offering this comprehensive business support, which will play a crucial role in the city’s economic recovery post-Covid.
“This hands-on, valuable support will not only help those struggling with the effects of the pandemic but also get new businesses off the ground. We pledged to support the vibrant small business start-up sector in Plymouth and these programmes will do just that.”
Plymouth City Council paid out £92m in Government grants to businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. A team of 50 staff, from several departments across the council, were involved in the largest business grant exercise the local authority has ever participated in, supporting 7,440 Plymouth businesses.
There were 16 separate Government grant schemes
to administer between March 2020 and July 2021, including the Local Restrictions Support Grant, Additional Restrictions Grant, Restart Grant and funding offered when the city was under tiered restrictions. A total of 19,435 payments were made during this time.
