Consultancy, Audits and One-to-One Support
Already started on your journey and need some more detailed advice?
Our range of one-to-one support includes professional advice, audits and research support, and ranges from general carbon management and innovation through to building and transport energy and food carbon.
Explore our full offer:
Environmental and Carbon Management
To help you understand the impact of your organisation on the planet and give you a clear framework to manage it, we are offering two complementary support options – Environmental Management Support and Carbon Audits. You may also be interested in our Carbon Action Training.
If you want to better manage the environmental impacts of your business but are short of time and/or confidence, this is the support for you. We will develop your environmental policy and action plan with you and give you management access to them via the Green Small Business portal. You will also benefit from Green Small Business certification in the first year, which will demonstrate your commitment to others.
Cost: dependent upon the complexity of the organisation, starting from:
- Micro (0-9 staff) £99
- Small (10-49 staff)
£229£179 - Medium (50+ staff), price on request
Duration and format: up to one hour online or on the phone
Provider: Green Small Business
Organisations that are committed to significantly reducing their carbon footprint and perhaps striving for ‘net zero’ carbon emissions will benefit greatly from a bespoke carbon audit. The audit measures both scope 1 and 2 (building and fleet) emissions and scope 3 (supply chain) emissions and can accommodate organisation-specific details that on-line calculators cannot. It will be conducted in a robust manner that follows international standards and protocols, giving you confidence in the measurements.
Cost: dependent upon the complexity of the organisation, starting from:
- Micro (0-9 staff)
£229£149 - Small (10-49 staff)
£339£259 - Medium (50+ staff), price on request
Duration and format: up to 1 hour online or on the phone
Provider: Green Small Business
Building Energy
Building energy is often the biggest contributor to an organisation’s carbon footprint, and with recent energy price hikes, it’s one of the biggest costs. We are offering two levels of building energy advice – an energy advice visit and a detailed energy audit. You may want to start with the low-cost visit to get a feel for the energy saving potential of your building, or go straight for the audit if you’re confident there’s lots of energy and money to be saved by taking action.
This support is for organisations who are considering renewable power generation, are keen to reduce their energy bills & carbon footprint and improve their energy security. Our specialist renewables assessors will visit your site and give you initial advice about potential renewable technologies and your site, including:
- Assess the potential of your site for renewables, such as solar PV, wind generation, battery storage and hydro;
- Advise on the optimal renewable solution for the business, given the business operations, site constraints and opportunities;
- Advise on the suitability of the site and/or buildings for installation of renewable technologies;
- Provide a report detailing potential impact, cost savings and carbon savings of installing renewables for your business.
- What further benefits and opportunities renewable energy could bring to your business.
The advice can be tailored to your budget and other constraints like building location and surrounding land. These visits are a low cost, high value, way to access expert advice so you address any concerns you might have can make informed decisions about the best technology to invest in for your site.
Cost: £100 FREE
Duration and format: 1-2 hour site visit, plus a short report
Provider: one of four energy assessors – A Muir Surveying, CBEN Ltd, Donna Munro Energy Consultancy or Verday Ltd
This support is for organisations who are concerned about the amount of energy they use to power their buildings, whether that’s for cost or carbon reasons. Our specialist energy assessors will visit your site and give you initial advice to reduce your bills. The advice will address the building fabric and highlight the most effective changes you can make to reduce your energy demand. The visit will be followed by a report detailing a range of measures you could take including:
- insulation: where it would be moist effective to install and what types are best to use;
- airtightness: it’s importance and how to achieve it within the constraints of your building;
- and ventilation: how to ensure you have adequate ventilation to address issues like damp and mould.
It will also look at the building processes and equipment – high energy demand items and how they are used – and advise on how best to reduce this demand. The advice can be tailored to your budget and other constraints like listed buildings. These visits are a low cost, high value, way to access expert advice so you can reduce your energy bills.
Cost: £100 FREE
Duration and format: 1-2 hour site visit, plus a short report
Provider: one of four energy assessors – A Muir Surveying, CBEN Ltd, Donna Munro Energy Consultancy or Verday Ltd
For organisations who are planning to invest in building energy saving measures and want some in-depth advice about the most effective ways of doing so, we can provide you with a building energy audit. This will be tailored to suit your needs and can either be organised straight away, or can be a follow up to an Energy Advice Visit (see above).
Cost: £1,500 FREE
Duration and format: 2-3 hour site visit
Provider: one of four energy assessors – A Muir Surveying, CBEN Ltd, Donna Munro Energy Consultancy or Verday Ltd.
Transport Energy
We are offering support at each stage in your journey from petrol and diesel to electric vehicles: from understanding your current fleet through to getting advice around EV charge point connections. You can take advantage of the step-by-step advice, or go straight for one element if you’ve already done the groundwork.
Transport fuel can be costly and can make a significant contribution to your organisation’s carbon footprint. If you have your own fleet, you’re in control, and have the opportunity to do something about that. We can support you to understand the impact of your fleet and make recommendations about how to reduce it.
Cost: dependent upon the composition of the fleet as follows:
- Small fleet (up to 5 vehicles) £200
- Medium sized fleet (6 – 10 vehicles) £300
- Large fleet (11 – 15 vehicles) £400
- X large fleet (more than 15 vehicles), price on request.
Duration and format: up to one hour online or on the phone
Provider: CBEN Ltd.
If you’re considering switching your vehicles to electric, or just supporting your staff or customers to arrive in their own electric vehicle (EVs), we can help you work out whether that would be possible for your organisation. We can assess your needs, suggest whether electric vehicles (EVs) will be suitable for you and give you advice around EV charge points.
Cost: £50
Duration and format: 1 hour site visit
Provider: Simon Brace EV Consultant
Switching to electric vehicles (EVs) is a great way to move away from carbon-intensive petrol and diesel. Having your own on-site EV charge point is the most convenient way of re-charging your organisation’s EVs or those of your staff or customers. We can help you by checking whether your building has a suitable electricity connection to support EV charge points.
Cost: Free
Duration and format: up to 1 hour online or on the phone
Provider: Electricity North West
Food Carbon
Westmorland & Furness is home to thousands of hospitality businesses who provide food and drink to our many visitors and local residents. Even if you’re not in the hospitality sector, you may have a small café or staff canteen on site and could find that the food you serve forms a significant part of your organisation’s footprint. We can help you with advice around low carbon food options.
You can also visit the Cumbria Tourism website to find out more on reducing food and drink impact.
If you’re keen to understand how to reduce the carbon footprint of your menu, but not compromise on variety or quality, we can help you. Using data from internationally renowned Small World Consulting, our advisor (who is also a trained chef), can assess the carbon footprint of some of your dishes, highlighting the carbon intensive food items, and suggest tasty low carbon swaps.
Cost: Free
Duration and format: 2 x 1 hour discussions online or on the phone
Provider: Cumbria Action for Sustainability
Wasted food is costing the Hospitality and Food Service Industry £3.2 billion a year, and 75% of the food wasted could have been eaten. We are working with the Guardians of Grub Scheme to create 20 Guardians of Grub champions who will be able to drastically cut food waste in their organisation. We are offering supplementary support to businesses such as data inputting, help with set up and developing waste management plans.
Cost: Free
Duration and format: 4 weeks of managing and monitoring your kitchen waste, alongside online training modules
Provider: Cumbria Tourism
If you’re interested in any of the above, contact our free Helpdesk via email or telephone:
[email protected] | 01768 210 276
Find out if you’re eligible
This programme of support is designed for micro, small and medium sized organisations, that are based in Westmorland and Furness, and that are either commercial or social enterprises.
In detail, this means:
1. Location: the organisation must either have their business address in Westmorland and Furness, or must be delivering a substantial service in Westmorland and Furness. To receive a capital grant, the site of the investment must be within Westmorland and Furness.
2. Size: small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are defined by the UK government in terms of number of staff, turnover and balance sheet as set out here.
3. Nature of the organisation: organisations need to be ‘enterprises’ which are ‘engaged in economic activity’, but this can be on a not-for-profit basis. To help define this, we can support businesses that:
- Provide easily identifiable and saleable goods or services to customers or clients. Saleable goods or services could include those that are provided below market rate, if the organisation is able to do so through the use of other income, donations or volunteer time.
- Have at least one member of staff earning an income from the organisation. The member of staff can be either the business owners or an employee.
- Have a bank account.
- Are formally constituted, as one of the following:
- Limited companies
- Business partnerships
- Sole traders
- Charitable companies
- Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs)
- Charitable trusts
- Co-operatives or Mutual ownership models
- Community interest companies (CICs).
The exception is in relation to access onto our Purposeful Start-Up course. It is recognised that start-ups, by nature, are just setting out on a process and therefore do not have to meet this particular criterion to access that course. Is it expected however, that they will be aiming to become an enterprise of some sort in the near future.
4. Sectors: we can support private and charitable sector organisations in any industry. We cannot support public sector organisations, for example, state schools.
5. Specific exclusions do apply:
- Faith, political or campaign-based organisations are ineligible. The exception here is if the organisation includes an enterprise ‘arm’, which is accessible to customers or clients of any faith or political standpoint. In these circumstances, support can be provided in relation to that enterprise part of the organisation only.
- Housing providers. Bed and breakfasts and holiday-let businesses are eligible for support, provided that the accommodation is bookable for most of the year, i.e. operating as a business for most of the year. We acknowledge that the accommodation might also be the home of the business owner and that demand for accommodation is seasonal.
By supporting you through this programme, the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub is offering you a Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act (2022). This applies to both non-financial assistance and grant funding.
You will be informed of the amount of MFA offered (i.e. the value of the particular element of support that you are interested in) when you request it. Before we provide that support to you, we require written confirmation that receipt of the support will not exceed your organisation’s MFA threshold. The threshold is £315,000 of MFA subsidy cumulated over this and the previous two financial years, as specified in section 36(1) of the Subsidy Control Act (2022). Confirmation must be sent by someone who is authorised to do so on behalf of your organisation.
We take this opportunity to remind you that you are required to keep a written record of the amount of MFA subsidy you have received and the date/s when it was received. The written record must be kept for at least three years beginning with the date on which the MFA subsidy was given. This will enable you to respond to future requests from public authorities on how much MFA subsidy you have received and whether you have reached the cumulative threshold.
Privacy Notice
We are Cumbria Action for Sustainability.
This Privacy Notice tells you what we are doing with your personal data because of our involvement in the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub project, which is running from 1st November 2023 to 31st January 2025.
Why we are disclosing information about you
To deliver our services.
How we ensure that the processing we do is lawful
We cannot use your personal data for any reason unless we have a lawful basis to do so. For this project we use:
- The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party, or for the taking of steps at the request of the data subject with a view to entering into a contract.
How long do we keep your information?
Details of financial transactions and payments are retained for a period of 7 years.
All partners in the project will keep the details of organisations who take part in any activity related to this project for 2 years after the project ends.
Who do we share your personal information with?
We are part of a consortium of partners who are collectively providing support to organisations through the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub. We will share your personal with other partners if they are supporting you, and sharing your personal data will allow us to refer you to them. It will also facilitate the smooth-running of the project, record outputs and outcomes and avoid duplication of records. The project partners are:
- Cumbria Action for Sustainability
- Cumbria Chamber of Commerce
- Cumbria Tourism
- Future Fixers
- Lancaster University
- Green Small Business
- CBEN
- A Muir Surveying
- Verday
- Donna Munro Consultant
- Simon Brace EV Consulting
- Art Gene
- Electricity North West
We will also share your organisations’ name with the UK Government, via Westmorland and Furness Council, which is funding the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub project. Your organisation’s name may be personal data depending upon the type and name of the organisation. This information is required by Westmorland and Furness Council to prove the effectiveness of the project.
Otherwise we will not share your personal information with any third parties, other than those who perform services for us and who are listed on our CAfS Privacy Notice.
When we share your personal data with these third parties, we require them to take appropriate steps to protect your personal information, and only to use the personal information for the purpose of performing those specific services.
We will never sell or distribute your personal information to any other third parties or make it public unless we have a legal obligation to do so.
Further Information
For information on your rights, how to complain and how to contact us, please refer to our main company our CAfS Privacy Notice.
Testimonials
The Hub … identified potential energy savings that could reach approximately 7,000 kWh annually, reducing our carbon footprint, and offering the prospect of considerable cost savings … Their professionalism and assistance have been paramount in charting a course for a greener, more cost-effective future.
The audit helped us understand where we were with the building … It flagged up things we hadn’t thought of, like insulating the loft hatches. It has also been really useful to refer to the audit in applications for funds. The auditor was incredibly helpful and patient, he understood the limits of what we could achieve and never sounded too preachy.
Simon was really helpful! We’ve had several meetings previously with sales people about EV chargers that have left us more confused than we started, so it was great to speak to someone impartial and informed! We have a much better understanding of what will work on the site, he was really easy to talk to and really enthusiastic about the project.
Having a strong network of local businesses that are actively engaged in helping each other has been invaluable. It has helped us to identify new ways of becoming sustainable. The more we build and share knowledge across the region, the greater impact we can have on local communities and the places that matter to us.
Consultancy, Audits and One-to-One Support
Already started on your journey and need some more detailed advice?
Our range of one-to-one support includes professional advice, audits and research support, and ranges from general carbon management and innovation through to building and transport energy and food carbon.
Explore our full offer below:
Environmental and Carbon Management
If you want to better manage the environmental impacts of your business but are short of time and/or confidence, this is the support for you. We will develop your environmental policy and action plan with you and give you management access to them via the Green Small Business portal. You will also benefit from Green Small Business certification in the first year, which will demonstrate your commitment to others.
Cost: dependent upon the complexity of the organisation, starting from:
- Micro (0-9 staff) £99
- Small (10-49 staff)
£229£179 - Medium (50+ staff), price on request
Duration and format: up to one hour online or on the phone
Provider: Green Small Business
Organisations that are committed to significantly reducing their carbon footprint and perhaps striving for ‘net zero’ carbon emissions will benefit greatly from a bespoke carbon audit. The audit measures both scope 1 and 2 (building and fleet) emissions and scope 3 (supply chain) emissions and can accommodate organisation-specific details that on-line calculators cannot. It will be conducted in a robust manner that follows international standards and protocols, giving you confidence in the measurements.
Cost: dependent upon the complexity of the organisation, starting from:
- Micro (0-9 staff)
£229£149 - Small (10-49 staff)
£339£259 - Medium (50+ staff), price on request
Duration and format: up to 1 hour online or on the phone
Provider: Green Small Business
Building Energy
This support is for organisations who are considering renewable power generation, are keen to reduce their energy bills & carbon footprint and improve their energy security. Our specialist renewables assessors will visit your site and give you initial advice about potential renewable technologies and your site, including:
- Assess the potential of your site for renewables, such as solar PV, wind generation, battery storage and hydro;
- Advise on the optimal renewable solution for the business, given the business operations, site constraints and opportunities;
- Advise on the suitability of the site and/or buildings for installation of renewable technologies;
- Provide a report detailing potential impact, cost savings and carbon savings of installing renewables for your business.
- What further benefits and opportunities renewable energy could bring to your business.
The advice can be tailored to your budget and other constraints like building location and surrounding land. These visits are a low cost, high value, way to access expert advice so you address any concerns you might have can make informed decisions about the best technology to invest in for your site.
Cost: £100 FREE
Duration and format: 1-2 hour site visit, plus a short report
Provider: one of four energy assessors – A Muir Surveying, CBEN Ltd, Donna Munro Energy Consultancy or Verday Ltd
This support is for organisations who are concerned about the amount of energy they use to power their buildings, whether that’s for cost or carbon reasons. Our specialist energy assessors will visit your site and give you initial advice to reduce your bills. The advice will address the building fabric and highlight the most effective changes you can make to reduce your energy demand. The visit will be followed by a report detailing a range of measures you could take including:
- insulation: where it would be moist effective to install and what types are best to use;
- airtightness: it’s importance and how to achieve it within the constraints of your building;
- and ventilation: how to ensure you have adequate ventilation to address issues like damp and mould.
It will also look at the building processes and equipment – high energy demand items and how they are used – and advise on how best to reduce this demand. The advice can be tailored to your budget and other constraints like listed buildings. These visits are a low cost, high value, way to access expert advice so you can reduce your energy bills.
Cost: £100 FREE
Duration and format: 1-2 hour site visit, plus a short report
Provider: one of four energy assessors – A Muir Surveying, CBEN Ltd, Donna Munro Energy Consultancy or Verday Ltd
For organisations who are planning to invest in building energy saving measures and want some in-depth advice about the most effective ways of doing so, we can provide you with a building energy audit. This will be tailored to suit your needs and can either be organised straight away, or can be a follow up to an Energy Advice Visit (see above).
Cost: £1,500 FREE
Duration and format: 2-3 hour site visit
Provider: one of four energy assessors – A Muir Surveying, CBEN Ltd, Donna Munro Energy Consultancy or Verday Ltd.
Transport Energy
Transport fuel can be costly and can make a significant contribution to your organisation’s carbon footprint. If you have your own fleet, you’re in control, and have the opportunity to do something about that. We can support you to understand the impact of your fleet and make recommendations about how to reduce it.
Cost: dependent upon the composition of the fleet as follows:
- Small fleet (up to 5 vehicles) £200
- Medium sized fleet (6 – 10 vehicles) £300
- Large fleet (11 – 15 vehicles) £400
- X large fleet (more than 15 vehicles), price on request.
Duration and format: up to one hour online or on the phone
Provider: CBEN Ltd.
If you’re considering switching your vehicles to electric, or just supporting your staff or customers to arrive in their own electric vehicle (EVs), we can help you work out whether that would be possible for your organisation. We can assess your needs, suggest whether electric vehicles (EVs) will be suitable for you and give you advice around EV charge points.
Cost: £50
Duration and format: 1 hour site visit
Provider: Simon Brace EV Consultant
Switching to electric vehicles (EVs) is a great way to move away from carbon-intensive petrol and diesel. Having your own on-site EV charge point is the most convenient way of re-charging your organisation’s EVs or those of your staff or customers. We can help you by checking whether your building has a suitable electricity connection to support EV charge points.
Cost: Free
Duration and format: up to 1 hour online or on the phone
Provider: Electricity North West
Food Carbon
If you’re keen to understand how to reduce the carbon footprint of your menu, but not compromise on variety or quality, we can help you. Using data from internationally renowned Small World Consulting, our advisor (who is also a trained chef), can assess the carbon footprint of some of your dishes, highlighting the carbon intensive food items, and suggest tasty low carbon swaps.
Cost: Free
Duration and format: 2 x 1 hour discussions online or on the phone
Provider: Cumbria Action for Sustainability
Wasted food is costing the Hospitality and Food Service Industry £3.2 billion a year, and 75% of the food wasted could have been eaten. We are working with the Guardians of Grub Scheme to create 20 Guardians of Grub champions who will be able to drastically cut food waste in their organisation. We are offering supplementary support to businesses such as data inputting, help with set up and developing waste management plans.
Cost: Free
Duration and format: 4 weeks of managing and monitoring your kitchen waste, alongside online training modules
Provider: Cumbria Tourism
If you’re interested in any of the above, contact our free Helpdesk:
Find out if you’re eligible:
This programme of support is designed for micro, small and medium sized organisations, that are based in Westmorland and Furness, and that are either commercial or social enterprises.
In detail, this means:
1. Location: the organisation must either have their business address in Westmorland and Furness, or must be delivering a substantial service in Westmorland and Furness. To receive a capital grant, the site of the investment must be within Westmorland and Furness.
2. Size: small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are defined by the UK government in terms of number of staff, turnover and balance sheet as set out here.
3. Nature of the organisation: organisations need to be ‘enterprises’ which are ‘engaged in economic activity’, but this can be on a not-for-profit basis. To help define this, we can support businesses that:
- Provide easily identifiable and saleable goods or services to customers or clients. Saleable goods or services could include those that are provided below market rate, if the organisation is able to do so through the use of other income, donations or volunteer time.
- Have at least one member of staff earning an income from the organisation. The member of staff can be either the business owners or an employee.
- Have a bank account.
- Are formally constituted, as one of the following:
- Limited companies
- Business partnerships
- Sole traders
- Charitable companies
- Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs)
- Charitable trusts
- Co-operatives or Mutual ownership models
- Community interest companies (CICs).
The exception is in relation to access onto our Purposeful Start-Up course. It is recognised that start-ups, by nature, are just setting out on a process and therefore do not have to meet this particular criterion to access that course. Is it expected however, that they will be aiming to become an enterprise of some sort in the near future.
4. Sectors: we can support private and charitable sector organisations in any industry. We cannot support public sector organisations, for example, state schools.
5. Specific exclusions do apply:
- Faith, political or campaign-based organisations are ineligible. The exception here is if the organisation includes an enterprise ‘arm’, which is accessible to customers or clients of any faith or political standpoint. In these circumstances, support can be provided in relation to that enterprise part of the organisation only.
- Housing providers. Bed and breakfasts and holiday-let businesses are eligible for support, provided that the accommodation is bookable for most of the year, i.e. operating as a business for most of the year. We acknowledge that the accommodation might also be the home of the business owner and that demand for accommodation is seasonal.
By supporting you through this programme, the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub is offering you a Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act (2022). This applies to both non-financial assistance and grant funding.
You will be informed of the amount of MFA offered (i.e. the value of the particular element of support that you are interested in) when you request it. Before we provide that support to you, we require written confirmation that receipt of the support will not exceed your organisation’s MFA threshold. The threshold is £315,000 of MFA subsidy cumulated over this and the previous two financial years, as specified in section 36(1) of the Subsidy Control Act (2022). Confirmation must be sent by someone who is authorised to do so on behalf of your organisation.
We take this opportunity to remind you that you are required to keep a written record of the amount of MFA subsidy you have received and the date/s when it was received. The written record must be kept for at least three years beginning with the date on which the MFA subsidy was given. This will enable you to respond to future requests from public authorities on how much MFA subsidy you have received and whether you have reached the cumulative threshold.
Privacy Notice
We are Cumbria Action for Sustainability.
This Privacy Notice tells you what we are doing with your personal data because of our involvement in the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub project, which is running from 1st November 2023 to 31st January 2025.
Why we are disclosing information about you
To deliver our services.
How we ensure that the processing we do is lawful
We cannot use your personal data for any reason unless we have a lawful basis to do so. For this project we use:
- The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party, or for the taking of steps at the request of the data subject with a view to entering into a contract.
How long do we keep your information?
Details of financial transactions and payments are retained for a period of 7 years.
All partners in the project will keep the details of organisations who take part in any activity related to this project for 2 years after the project ends.
Who do we share your personal information with?
We are part of a consortium of partners who are collectively providing support to organisations through the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub. We will share your personal with other partners if they are supporting you, and sharing your personal data will allow us to refer you to them. It will also facilitate the smooth-running of the project, record outputs and outcomes and avoid duplication of records. The project partners are:
- Cumbria Action for Sustainability
- Cumbria Chamber of Commerce
- Cumbria Tourism
- Future Fixers
- Lancaster University
- Green Small Business
- CBEN
- A Muir Surveying
- Verday
- Donna Munro Consultant
- Simon Brace EV Consulting
- Art Gene
- Electricity North West
We will also share your organisations’ name with the UK Government, via Westmorland and Furness Council, which is funding the Westmorland and Furness Green Enterprise Hub project. Your organisation’s name may be personal data depending upon the type and name of the organisation. This information is required by Westmorland and Furness Council to prove the effectiveness of the project.
Otherwise we will not share your personal information with any third parties, other than those who perform services for us and who are listed on our CAfS Privacy Notice.
When we share your personal data with these third parties, we require them to take appropriate steps to protect your personal information, and only to use the personal information for the purpose of performing those specific services.
We will never sell or distribute your personal information to any other third parties or make it public unless we have a legal obligation to do so.
Further Information
For information on your rights, how to complain and how to contact us, please refer to our main company our CAfS Privacy Notice.