Save the date – International Women’s Day
Cumbria Chamber of Commerce will be celebrating International Women’s Day on Monday 8th March 2027. Further details will follow as the event takes shape but we promise an inspiring and rewarding day away from the office.
British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS)
Applications for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) are open, closing on 30 November 2026.
The scheme could reduce electricity bills for eligible manufacturing businesses by up to 25% (approximately £40/MWh).
Businesses can use the online eligibility checker and GOV.UK guidance to check whether you may qualify and understand the evidence required.
Apply for BICS - British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) - GOV.UK
Don’t miss the below webinar giving more information on the scheme:
Tuesday 17th November: BICS Last Chance to Apply Business Update | Join meeting in Teams | Microsoft Teams
The scheme will benefit over 10,000 businesses, reducing electricity costs by up to £40 per megawatt hour, equivalent to an average discount of around 25% off electricity bills. Eligible businesses will also receive an additional payment in 2027 to cover costs approximately equivalent to an extra year’s benefit.
Have Your Say on Cumbria’s Business Future
Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Cumbria Combined Authority, wants to hear from you. Please take part in our survey, which explores the issues affecting businesses across Cumbria, including growth, productivity, innovation, skills and recruitment, AI adoption, funding, net zero and trade.
We really appreciate when businesses are able to take time away from their busy schedules to complete our surveys and we are proud of the impact that their results have had on shaping skills provision and economic development in Cumbria.
Feedback from this survey will help shape future business support, skills provision and economic development priorities, and will inform discussions with the Mayor, Combined Authority and help us represent the interests of Cumbrian businesses with other key stakeholders.
The survey should only take 8-10 minutes to complete.
Thank you for your contributions!
Discount on cybersecurity certification
Thousands of small and medium-sized business owners across the UK can now benefit from a government-backed 75% discount on its Cyber Essentials certification programme. The programme helps businesses put essential protections in place to safeguard their systems from cyber threats and attacks. The discount is designed to make it easier for micro, small and medium-sized businesses to take practical action on cybersecurity.
Read more about the discount here
Tour de France 2027 - Is your business ready to be part of it?
As you will be aware, one of the world's greatest sporting events, the Tour de France, is coming to Westmorland and Furness on 3 July 2027!
The Tour de France is more than a world-class sporting event, it is an opportunity to tell the story of our place and create a lasting legacy for our communities and businesses, so the Council are keen to hear more about your plans and let you know how you can play your part.
The JOY Social Impact Programme is the official legacy and community impact programme of Grand Départ GB 2027 Ltd, the organisation delivering the 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Grand Départ in Britain.
The JOY Programme has been established to create positive social change before, during and after the event, focusing on skills, employability, participation, wellbeing, culture and community.
The Council are developing a pipeline of investable community, arts and culture and school-based projects that align with the JOY programme themes to harness the excitement and inspiration generated by the Tour de France. They’re looking to connect businesses with local organisations seeking support, enabling businesses to work alongside projects/events that align with their own social value commitments and priorities.
Support could be offered in a variety of ways, including:
✅ Encourage employee volunteering
✅ In-kind support and expertise
✅ Equipment, resources or venues for local activities and initiatives
✅ Support schools, colleges, youth groups and grassroots organisations
✅ Sponsorship or funding contributions to events and celebrations, encouraging active travel, healthy living and community participation
If your business would like to be part of creating something meaningful and lasting, the Council would love to hear from you.
📩 Please get in touch to let them know your plans, or to explore how your organisation can get involved and help make the Tour de France legacy count for generations to come: invest@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk
You can find further helpful information and resources here:
Westmorland and Furness - Tour de France Grand Depart 2027
Tour de France JOY Impact Programme
Tour de France Business Toolkit
From cars to costs – records and expenses explained
Keeping good records and claiming the right expenses is a great place to start if you want a clear picture of your business finances and pay the correct tax.
To help you with this, join HMRCs live webinars, where you can learn more and ask questions using the on-screen text box:
Business expenses for the self-employed
Register for our webinar about business expenses, during which HMRC will:
Capital allowances for the self-employed
You can register for this webinar which looks at claiming expenses for the larger items used for business, such as business vehicles, computers, and equipment.
The session will also cover:
For more information on claiming for cars, please join a separate webinar, 'Car expenses for the self-employed'.
Car expenses for the self-employed
If you use your own car for business, register for this webinar and HMRC will tell you about:
Record keeping for the self-employed
Register for this webinar about record keeping, including:
Operation Impact supports businesses and promotes compliance in Whitehaven
Cumberland Council has carried out Operation Impact in Whitehaven, bringing together officers from Environmental Crime, Trading Standards, Licensing and Planning to engage with local businesses and promote high standards across the town centre.
The operation formed part of a coordinated programme of business engagement activity taking place across Cumberland and focused on supporting businesses through advice, education and early intervention.
Officers visited premises throughout Whitehaven to discuss a range of issues including commercial waste management, licensing requirements, planning compliance and trading standards responsibilities.
Operation Impact is designed to provide a visible council presence within key commercial areas, strengthen relationships with businesses and gather intelligence that may help inform future activity where required.
The emphasis is on constructive engagement, promoting compliance and helping businesses understand their responsibilities.
You can read more here
Operator sought for new Cumberland Sports Village
Further progress has been made on the Cumberland Sports Village in Workington with a decision taken to seek an operator for the site.
Cumberland Council’s Executive has taken the decision (Wednesday 16 September) to start a competitive procurement exercise to appoint a specialist stadium operator to operate the new stadium and 3G community pitch.
The scheme is intended to replace ageing stadium infrastructure and create a wider Sports Village that supports professional sport, grass roots sport, community participation, health and wellbeing, local pride, economic activity and regeneration. The site will also include function rooms and catering facilities to accommodate commercial events such as conferences.
You can read more here
Help Shape Cumberland's Future Professional Services Framework
Cumberland Council is inviting suppliers to participate in pre-market engagement for a proposed Professional Services Framework covering the period 2027-2031. The framework is intended to provide access to multidisciplinary professional services supporting the Council's capital, regeneration, infrastructure and property programmes, with an anticipated value of approximately £20m over four years.
The proposed framework includes opportunities across disciplines such as:
We welcome feedback from suppliers of all sizes, including SMEs and local businesses, to help ensure the framework delivers best value, innovation and opportunities for the region.
Have you say by completing this form
Green your business and save costs
Westmorland and Furness Council have relaunched the Greening Businesses Scheme to support businesses in the Westmorland and Furness area to:
The initiative once again offers businesses the opportunity to work with the Cumbria Business Environment Network (CBEN) Partnership to help them to understand how to reduce their carbon footprint and cut costs, promoting a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future for their business and the area.
Through this partnership, businesses can access a free carbon footprint assessment of their operations and activities from which they can develop strategies or implement measures to reduce carbon emissions and save costs.
Please find out more information and apply: Open climate and nature opportunities and support | Westmorland and Furness Council
The deadline for applications has been extended until 30th November.
FREE resources: Small Business Saturday webinar series
Small Business Saturday’s Webinar Series returns this autumn with a huge range of FREE online sessions covering essential topics from marketing tips to finance and the latest in AI. The workshops will run on weekdays at 11am from 2 November to 2 December, and if you attend 10 webinars, you will receive a very special gift from Sweet Grind!
All webinars are completely FREE and can be accessed online from anywhere in the UK.
Find out more and sign up here
New Game Changers challenge for promotion - Better equipping personnel
Sellafield Ltd is seeking product-based innovations to better support operators carrying out nuclear decommissioning tasks in contaminated environments. Solutions should help improve safety, comfort and task performance, potentially reducing fatigue, thermal burden and the need for repeated entries. Innovations could include improvements to ergonomics, communication, monitoring, visibility, dexterity or decontamination, with ready-to-deploy or adapted commercial products of particular interest.
Deadline for applications: 3pm (GMT) on Wednesday 25th November 2026.
Financial jargon made simple: Understand the numbers that drive your business
Running a business means making financial decisions every day. But when terms like cash flow, profit margin, working capital and forecasting are thrown around, it can be difficult to know what they mean or how to use them to make informed decisions.
Watch Making Sense of Financial Jargon on demand and build your financial confidence. In this practical session, you'll learn how to navigate common financial terminology with ease, helping you better understand your business finances and make smarter decisions for growth.
You'll learn:
Explore our funding and financial management series and get practical advice from experts to help you make informed financial decisions for your business.
Business and Community Parenting Summit -27 November
The Summit will bring together businesses, employers, community leaders, voluntary-sector partners and care-experienced people to explore how we can collectively create improved opportunities and outcomes for care-experienced young people across Cumberland. It will build on the positive work already developing with businesses and communities, with a particular focus on employment, training, mentoring, meaningful connections and enduring relationships.
📅 Friday 27 November 2026
📍 Greenhill Hotel, Wigton, Cumbria, CA7 8LS
🕤 Arrival from 9:30am for a 10:00am start
🕑 Finish: 2:00pm
🎟️ Free to attend, however advance booking is essential
The programme includes keynote contributions from Josh MacAlister MP, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, and Terry Galloway, National Care Leaver Champion, campaigner and founder of Hazel Card. We will also be launching Hazel Card, a platform intended to strengthen enduring relationships and pathways into employment, housing, enrichment opportunities and wider support networks for care-experienced young people.
The Council hope this will be an opportunity not simply to attend an event, but to be part of a wider partnership with Cumberland’s care-experienced young people. Businesses of every size can play an important role through employment opportunities, mentoring, connections and wider practical support.
Register for the Summit
Do you know how to deal with a Subject Access Request?
Is your organisation prepared to handle subject access requests (SARs)?
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become more accessible and user friendly, Muckle LLP have seen a rise in AI-generated subject access requests (SARs). Although a useful tool for data subjects, they can be burdensome on organisations when they can be as long as 30 pages. So what can you do to manage this?
On 2nd December at Carlisle United’s Brunton Park, Muckle LLPs data protection experts will guide you on managing and responding to subject access requests (SARs) and ensure your organisation has the right framework to stay compliant.
Why attend?
In this in-depth session, Muckle LLPs experienced legal team will provide step-by-step guidance on how to identify, manage and respond to SARs efficiently. They will also take you through the mandatory and ‘good practice’ policies and procedures your organisation should have in place to avoid breaching UK data protection law and putting your organisation at risk.
Who should attend?
The training session is aimed towards anyone with an interest in and/or responsibility for managing and responding to SARs, including but not limited to:
Interested?
Wednesday 2nd December 2026
Carlisle United, Brunton Park, Warwick Road, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA1 1LL
9.30am -12.30pm
£100 course fee + VAT (£20.85) + Booking fee (£4.25) = £125.10
BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst – new fund alert
Innovate UK has £15 million available through the BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst.
This fund supports UK SMEs with an existing AI solution to team up with a larger organisation and prove a real deployment use case. This is phase 1 of a three phase programme worth up to £52 million in total.
There are three strands, each with up to £5 million:
1. AI for Operational Systems: AI that runs, controls or coordinates operational activity
2. AI for Decision Critical Systems: AI that supports high risk or high consequence decisions
3. AI for Assurance and Compliance: AI that monitors, tests, verifies or evidences compliance
Who can apply:
Grants of £100k to £200k for projects lasting three to five months. Closes 8th December at 11am.
Find out more and how to apply here
Green Future Fellowships
Available through the Royal Academy of Engineers, The Green Future Fellowship is a unique programme supporting academics, entrepreneurs and innovators to develop and scale up their breakthrough climate solutions.
About the scheme
Academics, entrepreneurs and innovators are pioneering urgently needed technologies to help the world build resilience and adapt to climate change. But often, they lack the support they need to thrive. The Green Future Fellowship programme aims to nurture climate innovation by providing those working across academia and industry with the space, time and support they need to accelerate their critical technologies into scalable, commercially viable, and world-changing projects.
Green Future Fellows will receive up to £3 million and support over ten years to develop their ground-breaking initiatives.
The programme is open to anyone with a transformative idea that has the potential to make a significant and lasting impact on global climate resilience.
What will be funded?
The novel technologies supported by the Green Future Fellowships will:
Innovations at all stages of development are eligible, from basic principles to proof of concept, demonstration, and application.
See example projects and innovation areas
Why should you apply?
Who is the programme for?
The Royal Academy of Engineering are looking for:
Applications are open until 4pm on 17 November – you can find out more here
