As part of the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, businesses are a part of the network of Chambers that is headed up by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
During this week the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce has been feeding information, collected by Members, into the BCC which has direct links to government.
The BCC has this week been lobbying with government to fight for numerous financial support packages to be made available to those businesses who have been affected by coronavirus.
Schemes including the Job Retention Schemes and deferral of tax payments were direct points raised to the government by the BCC, thanks to the opinions of businesses across the UK. The feedback received at the beginning of the week around support for the self-employed has also been raised to the government by the BCC which was announced yesterday.
In a time of uncertainty for businesses, it is good to see the government listening to the direct opinions of the people who matter most, the business community across the country and indeed Herefordshire & Worcestershire.
It is vital that we hear from more businesses on what further support and guidance is needed to help support local businesses and keep them operational, so we can communicate this to the BCC who then will fight for the support from the British Government.
It is great to have these wins for local businesses; however, the focus should now be on implementing these schemes as quickly as possible so that they get to the people who need them the most in order to stabilise the economy.
Please do get in touch to see how we can help your business, no matter the size, sector, Member of Non-member, we need to hear from you in order to raise with government what business require to survive through this period. As the situation continues to develop the discussions that we have with local businesses and the input from the BCC will continue to inform government response to the coronavirus.
We rely on the conversations that we are having with businesses across the two counties to inform what exactly is needed to support businesses, please do keep up to date with our Coronavirus Information Hub or contact us by calling 01905 673600.