Hello and welcome, I cannot believe we are in the final month of 2022 and I’m delighted to be giving you the update from Worcestershire Growth Hub.

In response to the tough conditions facing businesses,  the Worcestershire LEP and Worcestershire Growth Hub have partnered with several local partners to release ‘Strive and Thrive’, a consolidated collection of business advice. This gives your business helpful advice on what you can be doing in the short and long term to enable your business to grow and survive the conditions that we’re facing.

One of the challenges that most businesses are facing and certainly is at the forefront of everyone’s mind, are energy prices and decarbonisation. Worcestershire County Council is encouraging local businesses to access their new decarbonisation portal. The support portal will allow organisations and businesses to upload energy, water, waste, transport and supply chain emissions and identify how and what they can do to help achieve net zero.

Building on the portal, there are limited grants and support available from the Business Energy Efficiency Programme. So there are some limited assessments and grant funding available in Worcestershire. So it really is a case of getting in there quick to access this. Finally, I am pleased to say that we will have more business support events and webinars coming your way in the New Year.

So make sure you engage with our newsletter, follow our social accounts and talk to the team to find out how you can get involved and benefit from these events. So all that leads me to say is to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2023. Enjoy the break and I look forward to seeing you all in January.