Ards and North Down Borough Council is continuing to support the local economy and businesses in the Borough through continued delivery of its business activities and engagement.

All council buildings are currently closed to the public, including Signal Centre, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite this the Council continues to provide key business support through it's programmes.

Some programmes are continuing as normal and will be delivered remotely and online ensuring businesses can access and complete programmes safely under the Public Health Agency guidelines.

BT Small Business Support Scheme

BT have launched their Small Business Support scheme; introducing a range of new measures to help small business boost their connectivity, cash flow and confidence. Through this scheme BT is:

• helping small businesses fund the cost of an ultrafast business connection 
• launching bursaries for UK tech start - ups 
• helping small businesses go cashless

Find out more about BT Small Business Support Scheme

Barclays Back to Business

Barclays have developed a 'Back to Business' programme in partnership with University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. From your start date, you’ll have two months to access and complete the Back to Business Programme, which should take 15 hours of your time. The programme will help you assess the health of your business and identify how to sustain or grow it during a crisis, with scenarios you can use to see how the pandemic might affect your business in future. The key output will be a resilience plan for your business, which you can continue to test and evolve over time.

Find out more about the Back to Business Programme

NI Direct: Online Training Support

NI Direct have put together a list of online training support which includes courses on digital skills, employability and a links to other online resources.

View online courses

BT Skills for Tomorrow

BT have launched their Skills for Tomorrow initiative to help families, businesses and communities across the UK. They have produced a range of webinars for businesses and also a range of courses are available for business owners and employees to learn new skills.

Go to BT Skills for Tomorrow

COVID-19 Response: Cash Flow Management

Normally, a positive cash flow is a key indicator of financial health, however, at present, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even the most successful businesses are experiencing extraordinary cash flow pressures. Invest NI have put together this tutorial for businesses.

Go to Cash Flow tutorial

The Skills Toolkit

The Skills Toolkit is made up of free online courses, tools and resources to help you improve your digital and numeracy skills. 

There are courses that will give you an introduction to getting confident online to more advanced digital skills for use in the workplace. 

View all Skills Toolkit courses

Skills Focus

Skills Focus is a skills development programme funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE) and delivered across Northern Ireland by the six further education colleges. It aims to help local businesses upskill their staff. The Skills Focus programme is available for SMEs with fewer than 250 employees. Businesses can now access free upskilling for their staff, including those who are furloughed.

Find out more about Skills Focus

PWC

PWC have produced a podcast series on COVID-19 and the effects it is having on business. The podcasts cover a range of topics including: navigating lockdown, supply chain management and leading through a crisis.

Find out more about the Podcasts