NAA Update: Latest support for COVID-19, OLEV winners, and forthcoming NAA events
Welcome to this month’s newsletter and I hope that you are all still keeping safe and well…
Firstly, I want to update you on last week’s announcement from the Chancellor regarding the Government’s Winter Economy Plan – additional government support to provide certainty to businesses and workers impacted by COVID-19 across the UK. Central to this plan are the new Job Support Scheme and the SEISS Grant Extension.
Job Support Scheme is designed to protect viable jobs in businesses which are facing lower demand over the winter months due to COVID-19, to help keep their employees attached to the workforce.
All SMEs will be eligible; large businesses will be required to demonstrate that their business has been adversely affected by COVID-19, and the government expects that large employers will not be making capital distributions (such as dividends) while using the scheme.
The scheme will open on 1 November 2020 and run for 6 months, until April 2021.
More information is available in this factsheet and further guidance will be published shortly.
Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Grant Extension provides critical support to the self-employed. The grant will be limited to self-employed individuals who are currently eligible for the SEISS and are actively continuing to trade but are facing reduced demand due to COVID-19. The scheme will last for 6 months, from November 2020 to April 2021.
More information is available in this factsheet and further guidance will be published in due course.
In further positive news, SMMT launched its Safe Harbour Scheme last month to prevent insolvencies and save jobs across auto sector as it grapples with devastating effects of the coronavirus crisis.
This industry initiative allows multiple companies to come together to support critical suppliers without falling foul of anti-competition rules.
The scheme will help preserve UK’s automotive manufacturing capability and capacity and prevent further ‘hollowing out’ with at least 14,000 sector jobs already lost this year.
Companies interested in taking part in Safe Harbour can find out more and enquire in strict confidence here
On another positive note, the government, via the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has recently announced the winners of the following competitions:
- Catalysing Green Innovation Programme
- Niche Vehicle Network
This has resulted in a total of over £1.8m being awarded to companies within our region, including NAA member companies: AJE Powertrain; BAC (see image above); Brace Technology; Electra Commercial Vehicles and Spark EV Technology.
I would also like to take the opportunity to welcome two new member companies aboard:
Bigtank Video Productions, who from their Lancashire base have clients across the country and further afield, including global brands such as Mercedes Benz trucks.
ActionCOACH UK, who deliver their proven business development systems to thousands of business owners every year and have already hosted a number of NAA webinars this year.
Elsewhere in this newsletter you can read further details on the latest developments from some of our other member companies, including: 3DGBIRE; Langen Motorcycles (Brace Technology); Melo World and Spark EV Technology.
You can also read the latest Manufacturing Outlook 2020 Q3 report compiled by our partner Make UK in partnership with BDO here.
Whilst current government restrictions mean that we are not yet able to return to face to face events, we continue to run webinars and in September APC & DIT hosted “Automotive Transformation – Developing the UK Electric Vehicle Supply Chain”; IN4.0 hosted “Accelerating Talent” and IT Director as a Service hosted “Cyber Security Risks of Remote Working” – a review of each webinar can be found later in the newsletter.
Forthcoming webinars in October / early November:
22nd October – “The Impact of R&D Tax Relief Claims Following Legislative Changes” from BDO
29th October – “The Impact of Industry 4.0 on the Automotive Sector” from NAA Member, Senseye
Full details on the above two webinars can be found later on in this newsletter.
5th November – “3 Steps to Unlocking investment and Skills in Robotics and Automation in the Automotive Supply Chain” from NAA Member, DHL Supply Chain – further details on this will be sent in the coming weeks.
On a training note – if you are interested in Lean Training, please contact Zoe – we have trainers who can provide this as a one-day “overview” style session right through to a full lean programme.
We have also negotiated preferential rates for NAA members for the 3-Day Course, run by Dale Carnegie – “How to be an Effective Leader” – this will take place from 20th-22nd October in Manchester and full details can be found here
Finally, as always, if you need us please do not hesitate to contact us.
Stay safe.
Paul Jones, NAA CEO
