Encouraging individuals who have been made redundant and have a great business idea to take the plunge, is often difficult to do given the banks reluctance to lend to them.

I was heartened to discover that The Funding Circle lent £1m to small businesses in the UK in its first ten weeks.

The Funding Circle is the UK's first ever online marketplace – great to see innovation in times of economic uncertainty.

Co-founder of the social lending platform, James Meekings, said:

“The response to Funding Circle has been phenomenal. For consumers to lend £1 million to businesses via the site in just 10 weeks highlights the public’s appetite to support our small business community whilst also earning themselves a fantastic return".

So if you need a business loan at a cheaper rate than the banks are offering (average interest rate 8.2 per cent, substantially below the 12 per cent that banks typically charge businesses), visit www.fundingcircle.com.

Recrion is a specialist in career and talent management and is actively facilitating a Response to Redundancy scheme across the East of England and sign posting funding in the region. Click here to find out more about the R2R scheme or call an R2R Adviser on 01780 484910.

The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Growth Fund (CPGF) is designed to provide one-off financial support for businesses and social enterprises looking to safeguard or create new jobs as part of their business growth plans.The CPGF entitles eligible beneficiaries to claim back up to 50% of the cost of their agreed business support activity up to a maximum value of £10,000.

It is aimed specifically at SMEs (small and medium sized businesses) in the following sectors:

• Biomedical
• Cleantech
• High Value Manufacturing
• ICT
• Tourism
• Food Processing
• Creative Industries
• Social Enterprise

Information on how to access the scheme is available from Business Link East – it is a "busy" website so we recommend you speak to someone on 08457 17 16 15.

Recrion is a People and Career Management consultancy and works with our clients to develop a deep understanding of the people in their business.  We are actively facilitating relevant publically funded schemes to ensure that our clients have all the support they need during the economic downturn.

Please contact Recrion's Director Katherine Wiid on 01780 484910 with any questions – no matter how simple they may seem! We are happy to help.

50 per cent of the 1,000 employees it questioned in the Midlands are so concerned about increased responsibility and a perceived greater threat of losing their jobs they no longer want promotion.

The research also revealed that 75 per cent of those surveyed craved the perceived job security of the public sector.

if you are experiencing this level of negativity in your business, try and identify what issues you need to address to re-engage your employees:

• How can you address their fear of uncertainty and change?
• Can you communicate better – poor communication creates misunderstandings and lack of clarity.
• How sound and consistent are your management policies and processes?
• Can you give your employees clear direction and share your strategic goals?

There are many sources of funding and expertise available at regional level to help you address these issues.  For more information contact Recrion, People Management Specialists on 01780 484910 or visit www.recrion.co.uk

For those of you who haven't ever visited Stamford, it is an historic market town and to all intents "well heeled".  The shocking news announced at the meeting was that Stamford's unemployment is double that of the local towns that are traditionally less affluent.  The reason?  Stamford has no manufacturing and is predominantly a leisure and retail centre – both of which have been hard hit in the downturn.

I was spurred on to see what we could do with our collective HR skills in interviewing, training and coaching.  After a lot of digging, I came across some ESF funding being delivered through an initiative called R2R … have you ever heard of it?

Well… that is the biggest problem the fund administrators at the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) are facing. You see, for businesses making more than 20 people redundant, there is an automatic notification process through the Job Centres. But if you are one of the businesses making less than 20 people redundant, there is no mechanism to let you know about the help and funding available.

Somewhat worryingly, the Job Centres are so overloaded they are not able to meaningfully help unless there are over 80 redundancies!

What would it be like to take the emotional burden off your shoulders and arrange an hour-long meeting for each employee at risk of redundancy to discuss their career and prospects? Discussion with an independent career adviser appointed by R2R who has the experience and expertise to give practical, helpful advice on how to go about finding their next job?  The R2R fund has been set up specifically to reduce the financial burden of this kind of service, and your employees could be eligible.

As with all funding, only some employees will qualify. To see if your employees qualify for arguably the best advice they can get (at no cost to you), go to www.recrion.co.uk/FREE

If you have any questions we would be happy to help – call an independent career adviser at Recrion on 01780 484910.