Working for your Business      Supporting businesses across the Harrogate district
                                                                                                                                                   May 2 018
Welcome to the May edition of Working for your Business with the usual round-up of local information, opportunities and events to help support your business.  
In this issue:
Internet unleashed
Phase three of Superfast North Yorkshire (SFNY) will deliver superfast broadband coverage with speeds of more than 30Mbps to an additional 14,239 homes and businesses in North Yorkshire.
 
A new interactive map which includes phase 3 properties (as well as phase 1 and 2) has now been released by SFNY - just enter your address in the search box to find out whether you could be receiving superfast broadband.

Involve your workplace in Clean Air Day
On 21 June people around the UK will be joining together to take action to reduce air pollution.

Why not take part in a district-wide walk to work / school day on Clean Air Day as we encourage people to leave their cars at home, clean up the local air and get some gentle exercise?
 
Take a look at the Workplace Toolkit for more ideas and resources to help you get involved.      
 
Manual Handling - understanding, assessing and reducing the risk of injury
Manual Handling will be the focus of the next Harrogate and District Health and Safety event, taking place at Pavilions of Harrogate on Wednesday 27 June.
 
The session will help you understand how manual handling affects your body, assess tasks and suggest techniques to reduce manual handing risks.  
 
This event will be of interest to any kind of business where manual handling is a work activity, including residential and social care sectors.


Complying with GDPR
It's not long now before the introduction of General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The new laws, coming into place on 25 May, will radically change the way businesses handle and store data. It will be the largest shakeup of data protection laws in the country for decades and could result in fines for businesses found not to be compliant. Make sure that our business is ready for GDPR - you can find out more here.

Please also look out for an email from us that will be coming your way very soon - if you'd like to keep receiving our monthly email newsletters, make sure you let us know. 
 
Business Events
30 May - Cyber security
11 June - Development in Harrogate
15 June - Making tax digital and the benefits of cloud computing
15 June - Digital Enterprise
22 June - Making tax digital and the benefits of cloud computing
27 June - Manual Handling
9 July - Question time for HBC Councillors
Useful information
Business support advice - available on the business and investment pages on our website.   

Propertyfinder - our free to search online commercial sites and premises register.   
Quarterly Economic Overview - the latest figures from the Harrogate district.   
Contact us

tel. 01423 500600
Stay connected
Business Matters
HMRC have updated their website to include greater assistance for small businesses and self-employed needing guidance on issues such as VAT, self-assessments and tax credits.  
The find a job service, which lets people search and apply for full or part-time jobs in Great Britain, replaced Universal Jobmatch earlier this month. The service offers jobseekers and employers a simpler and more streamlined way to log in and access their information.    
Acas have released new guidance on tackling workplace inequality and how employers should accommodate people from different faiths and backgrounds.
Applications for the Queens Awards for Enterprise are now open. The awards recognise and encourage outstanding achievement in innovation, international trade and sustainable development.    
Entries for the National Apprenticeship Awards 2018 close on 25 May. New categories include the Recruitment Excellence Award, Rising Star Award and Recognition Award.    
Promoting food hygiene
Better food hygiene and standards means both businesses and consumers benefit - the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme helps to identify the very best.
 
We're keen to ensure that food businesses can reap the benefits of a good food hygiene rating so that it can help increase the number of customers who come through the door or order online. A great way to capitalise on a good rating is to include it in all of your promotional activity and materials.
 
The Food Standards Agency has developed a toolkit, offering top tips to help your business get the most out of your food hygiene rating. It provides imagery guidance, downloadable resources and banners you can use for your website.
 

Making tax digital and benefits of cloud accounting
cloud_computers.jpg
Tax is going completely digital and by 2020 (or as early as next year for some), most businesses, self-employed people and landlords will need to keep track of their tax affairs digitally and update HMRC at least quarterly.
 
The new rules will mean operational changes for every business but there are benefits to be gained from switching to cloud bookkeeping.
 
The next in the series of free breakfast seminars from DSC Chartered Accountants will be helping you to understand, prepare and benefit from cloud accounting, so why not join them on Friday 15 or Friday 22 June at The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate?
 
 
Railway timetable changes
A new rail timetable on the Leeds-Harrogate-York line was introduced this week. The changes are largely only minor, but it might be worth having a quick check if you use the trains - view the updated timetable here.
 
You might have also seen that the East Coast Main Line will no longer be operated by Virgin Trains East Coast from 24 June. London North Eastern Railway will be running the service instead. Train services will continue to run as normal, your tickets will still be valid and your journeys won't be affected. We are liaising with the Department for Transport to understand any implications for the additional Harrogate-London services and will update you on the position next month though we expect that existing contracts will be honoured.
 


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