Covid-19 Business Support

The government has made some important updates to key documents to give business further clarity on continued operation during the current outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19)…

As the responsible automotive cluster for the North West, Yorkshire & Humber, the Northern Automotive Alliance (NAA) has a social responsibility to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and maintain business support throughout. 

As such, the NAA has taken the decision to mandate that our team work from home until further notice, electing to continue regular liaison with NAA members by other means than face to face communication.  We are co-ordinating as many of our planned events by Webinar as possible.

Furthermore, the NAA have opened up a dialogue with members to facilitate support for on-going business via local and national government.  Current support and information available from Government can be found in the following links, with this being the key information for working safely in factories:

Latest Government Guidance (11/May/2020) for working safely during coronavirus covid-19 For Factories Plants and Warehouses

• Business Support
• Government Guidance 
• Government Guidance – Social Distancing for Manufacturing & Process Industry
• Government Advice – Employers and Employees
• Government Support for People Affected by COVID19
• Government Support – Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
• British Business Bank – Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
• SMMT Automotive Business Support
• Support for UK Exporters
• Notice: Readiness to supply ventilators and/or ventilator parts
• The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is looking for organisations who can support in the supply of ventilators and ventilator components across the United Kingdom as part of the Government’s response to COVID-19. If you can support in any way, please complete the webform below so they can assess capabilities and capacity to support this. https://ventilator.herokuapp.com/
• Bank of England
  • SME Support
  • Larger Firm Support

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has opened a Business Support Helpline, on 0300 4563565

For anyone having difficulty paying tax bills there is a Time to Pay scheme run by HMRC and businesses are encouraged to contact them sooner rather than later on 0800 0159559.

The SMMT has a section on its website focused on the UK automotive industry, including Latest Updates, Business Support, Webinars, How to help and FAQs for business:
https://www.smmt.co.uk/industry-topics/covid-19-automotive-business-support/

For those looking for local support via regional County Councils, and Local Enterprise Partnerships;

• Cheshire & Warrington
• Lancashire
• Liverpool
• Manchester
• Sheffield
• West Yorkshire

Please also be advised that the following shutdowns have been announced by the NAA’s Vehicle Manufacturer members;

• Bentley Motors (Crewe):  20^th March – TBA
• Jaguar Land Rover (Halewood):  20^th March – TBA
• Leyland Trucks/DAF (Production) Leyland: 27^th March – TBA
• Paccar Parts (Leyland) Remains open
• McLaren Automotive (Production) (Sheffield):  25^th March – TBA
• Pirelli ( Burton on Trent and Carlisle) 23^rd  March – TBA
• Vauxhall Motors (Ellesmere Port):  16^th March – TBA

Link to Covid-19 Q&A Page

As a cluster, we will remain open for business as usual and if you need to contact us, please do.