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Coast to Capital Growth Hub Support Update

This is the latest update of the support that Coast to Capital LEP and the Coast to Capital Growth Hub Team are providing to businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Working with Local Authorities and Membership Organisations 

Growth Hub team members Richard Butcher and Lou Williams continue to engage with Local Authorities and Membership Organisations across the Coast to Capital area, through the following:

 Attending the Economic Development Officer meetings in Surrey, Croydon and West Sussex and liaise with the Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership.

 Working with Surrey Chambers, Sussex Chambers and Brighton Chamber to develop initiatives to support businesses in the post lockdown period. The Chambers are also helping gather business intelligence so important for keeping BEIS informed as part of the weekly Coast to Capital Growth Hub updates.

COVID-19 Response Support 

Over the past three months, our small but highly dedicated Growth Hub team of advisers have provided guidance across our area through meaningful advice discussions with local businesses. This includes providing support to 500 businesses, each facing unique challenges, and undertaking over 400 COVID-19 impact assessments.

Click here to see some of the highlights from how the Growth Hub supported local businesses throughout the initial impact phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you have any local businesses requiring advice or support please get in touch via our online contact form.
If you have information that you want to feed in to BEIS please send it to Jon Alderman and we will include it in our analysis and reporting.

Business Recovery Support Sessions 

The Coast to Capital Growth Hub is providing, through our network of experts, FREE and impartial one hour 1-2-1 advice on topics to support businesses as they return to work and implement recovery plans.
To access this support please ask your contacts to complete our Request Form including the topic you want to discuss in order that we can organise advice sessions. Topics can include:
 Developing a safe and COVID-19 compliant working environment

 Supporting teams back to work

 Supporting leadership resilience

 Funding

 Repurposing the business and introducing innovation

 Remote team building

 Recovery planning

 Developing an online presence

Additional COVID-19 Recovery Support 

In addition to the One to One clinics, eligible businesses can benefit from a free full day of funded support from a Growth Champion to address any barriers to COVID-19 recovery. There is a network of 40 Growth Champions with expertise covering a wide area including Finance, HR, Marketing, Innovation, International Trade, Leadership and Management.

Backing Business Grants

We worked closely alongside our Investment department to provide grants of £5,000 - £25,000 to over 150 businesses, totalling £1.9 million via our Backing Business Grants fund. This has helped businesses adapt, innovate or evolve their operations so that they can survive the economic repercussions of the pandemic. Details of the successful applicant can be found in the resource section of the Backing Business Fund page on the Coast to Capital website.
Over the coming weeks, Coast to Capital will be sharing more success stories from business who have been awarded funding across West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, and East Surrey. Watch our latest video case study on R. Barker (Tarring) Ltd online here, a local company in Worthing who received £6,604 in Backing Business Grants to help adapt the business for remote working. You can keep up-to-date with our latest successful applicants on the Growth Hub twitter page.

Despite the fund now being closed, an Expression of Interest form is still available to submit on the Coast to Capital website in the case that future funding becomes available. Please note, the criteria for any future funding is yet to be decided.

Future Developments 

The support of the Growth Hub has developed from providing a focus on emergency response activity and advice to providing support to businesses as more return to operational activity and implement recovery plans.

Coast to Capital Growth Hub is developing its response to include:

 Increased delivery of Peer to Peer Networks to include support for all types and stages of business

 Accessing funding to provide grants for professional advice and supporting the visitor economy

 Increasing the number of front line advisers 

 Supporting the development of business recovery priorities and action planning.

 Working in partnership with other organisations to develop critical webinars for key sectors and topics

 Raising awareness of start up support to meet expected increased demands in this area.

 Support with international trade

Coast to Capital Careers Hub

We are delighted to announce that 35 schools and colleges from across the Crawley, Mid Sussex and East Surrey area will be included in a newly formed Careers Hub to accelerate levels of support and improvement in young people's career development. Schools and colleges within the Careers Hub will have access to:

 an expert 'Hub Lead' to help coordinate activity and build networks

 a central fund to support employer engagement activities

 training for a 'Careers Leader' in each school and college

As a result of the pandemic, a particular focus of Coast to Capital is on the aviation sector losing large numbers of jobs, and making sure that the workforce keeps up with the future demands. This is likely to become much more automated and techdriven as COVID-19 drives massive change on how it operates. In Crawley and some other places, levels of entrepreneurship and business start-up are very low and there is no University presence close to the airport.

As a key priority for Coast to Capital's Skills 360 Board, which brings together employers and skills providers to understand and address these key local skills
challenges, the proven Careers Hub model will now play a critical role in supporting local skills development. More information available online here.

T-Level Qualifications: Help create the next generation of skilled workers 

Government is introducing new T levels as a high-quality, work-focussed alternative to A levels for young people once they've completed their GCSEs. The qualifications awarding body NCFE is working with Government to develop the curriculum for the forthcoming T-Level qualifications for: education and childcare; digital business services; digital support services; health; healthcare science; and, science. NFCE are looking for employer input and feedback to the development of these new qualifications, to ensure that T levels reflect the needs of the occupations they're designed to serve. Also providing a great opportunity for businesses to get involved in shaping the learning and talent pipeline of the future. They only need a few hours of your time to review, comment on or help write qualification and assessment materials. You don't need to be an education expert; that's NCFE's job. They're simply looking for experienced practitioners in relevant digital occupations who can reflect on the knowledge and skills they need in their work. Find out how you can get involved online here

Information - Coast to Capital Growth Hub Portal 

The Growth Hub Team continue to maintain the COVID-19 section of the Growth Hub Portal with links to the available support. We continue to collate partner information and place it in our COVID-19 Business Support area of the Coast to Capital Growth Hub.
A wide range of webinars and online events are available for businesses to access. We regularly update our events page on the Growth Hub website to include information from membership organisations, the private sector and business support providers. 

We remain keen to work in partnership with business support organisations to deliver a coordinated range of activity during these challenging times.

 If you want to discuss any collaborations please contact Lou Williams in the first instance. 

If there are any updates, or you want to submit new content, for the portal please contact Ivy Silverton.
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