Coronavirus: Information and advice.

Support and Advice for Businesses

New and Free Money Saving Advice

We are working with the Place Support Partnership, a leading business support consultancy, to deliver a service to help your business save time and money on:

  • Gas
  • Electricity
  • Water
  • Telecoms
  • Merchant fees (your card machine)

The service is completely free, and open to all small and medium-sized enterprises in the District who wish to receive advice. The Place Support Partnership (website linked below) will review your bills and identify spending areas in your business where you can save money.

If you receive contact from the telephone number 03330 156 289 or emails from info@placesupportpartnership.com please be aware this is not spam - the consultancy is working on behalf of the District. Businesses are welcome to call or email the Place Support Partnership and make enquiries.

New E-commerce platform for all businesses to use

ShopAppy.com is a "Shop and Support Local" website supported and backed by Visa, making it easier than ever for people to browse, book and buy from their local businesses at their convenience. ShopAppy have partnered with Blaby District Council to offer free use of the platform for 12 months to all businesses in the district.

Our high streets are under threat and physical spend is quickly moving online. This has been accelerated by Covid-19 with £1 in every £3 now being spent with larger online retailers like Amazon. ShopAppy.com disrupts this behaviour by providing shoppers with all the products and lovely independent shops in their area – a one-stop-local-online-shop.

ShopAppy aims to make it as easy as possible for businesses to get on board: the vendor dashboard is extremely easy to use and Caryl, our lead contact, is always on hand to help. ShopAppy do not take any commissions on sales and only pass on the standard card processing fee.

If you are contacted by a ShopAppy representative please know that this is not spam - it is a free service provided by the Council. 

For more information please email caryl@shopappy.com or call 07817 529 835 to speak to Caryl. Caryl Davies, our lead contact will be happy to help and explain what is involved in using the service.

These projects are funded by Welcome Back Funding, which was successfully bid for from Central Government and the European Union Regional Development Fund.

Business Gateway Growth Hub

The Growth Hub is a single place to access business support across Leicester and Leicestershire. They offer free and impartial advice to help all local businesses, with a particular focus on those who are looking to grow and increase productivity.

Business Newsletter

Our Business Newsletter is emailed regularly and packed with the latest business support information and news of events and workshops happening near you. Sign up to receive this newsletter:

Sign up for updates

Business Hub Support Request

Our Business Hub is on hand to offer dedicated help and support, especially as we move out of lock down and onto the road to recovery. Our friendly team is on hand and only a call or email away: if we don’t know the answer we promise to find out. 

You can also get in touch by completing the online form below, or you can call customer services who will redirect you to a member of the team.

Health and Wellbeing Support

There are resources available to provide advice and information to help businesses, the self-employed and employees look after their health and wellbeing. Further details can be found in the website links panel below.

Support and advice when starting a business

Starting up and owning a business can be both exciting and daunting, with lots of major decisions to make. Getting the right advice to guide you through this fundamental stage of development is key to the success of your business.

The external links below offer a start up guide, as well as other useful forums which will help you to be well equipped for the launch of a new business venture.

Better Business For All partnership

Better Business for All is a local partnership between businesses and regulators aimed at removing barriers to growth and ensuring Leicester and Leicestershire are economically competitive areas.

The partnership gives your business a simple, single point of access to free advice on business regulations from those best placed to support you, the regulators themselves. They can provide answers to queries relating to food safety, health and safety, pollution, waste, licensing, taxation, trading standards and fire safety.

You can access this advice by calling 0871 384 3185. Lines are open from 9 am-5 pm Monday to Thursday and 9 am-4.30 pm on Fridays.

Complying with regulations can help your business provide a high and competitive standard of product that customers trust and help guard your business against liability. A good understanding of regulation can add value to your business.

As well as ourselves, the scheme is supported by:

  • Leicestershire County Council
  • Leicestershire Fire and Rescue
  • Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce
  • Federation of Small Businesses
  • Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Choose How You Move

If you own a business and find that some employees are finding it difficult to get to work, Choose How You Move, from Leicestershire County Council, can support your business and employees in adopting active modes of travel to get to and from work.

Initiatives include a free E-bike Loan Scheme. More information can be found on the Choose How You Move website link below.

External links
Last updated 20 May 2022
Do you need to get in touch with us? Use our contact form.
A to Z of Council Services