Business News

A new research report, Education for a World of Opportunity, reveals that over a third of British SMEs decision makers believe that technology and innovation have created fewer opportunities for unskilled workers to “learn on the job” and progress to higher paid roles. The YouGov poll, conducted on behalf of ACS International Schools and IBSCA…

BT Group has said it will cut up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade as part of plans to significantly cut costs and overhaul its workforce. The news comes as the company reports a 12 per cent drop in pre-tax profits of £1.7bn for the year to April. In its results for…

‘Planet positive’ bedding brand, Ethical Bedding, has successfully exceeded its £100k crowdfunding target just 12 days after its first Seedrs campaign officially went live and is well on its way of reaching £150K. Ethical Bedding Founder and young entrepreneur James Higgins made the decision to invite investors harnessing his same sustainable values to own part…

Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street food summit has been slammed as just full of “empty gestures and no more that an a PR stunt” by food and farming industry representatives, who rounded on the prime minister for failing to discuss soaring inflation or set out measures to safeguard British food production. The Farm to Fork summit,…

Corporate insolvencies dropped off in April as business confidence seemed to improve but experts warned that the drop may not signal better times ahead. According to new figures from the Insolvency Service, 1,685 companies went insolvent in April 2023, a 15 per cent fall on the same month the previous year. This was also down…

Rishi Sunak is facing mounting Tory unrest as he imposes the biggest tax rise since the 1970s, dragging millions of middle earners into the 40p rate of income tax. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that many teachers, nurses and electricians are among the one in five taxpayers who will be paying a rate…

​One of the first HMRC checks to have been successfully closed down after the introduction of the off-payroll working rules is proof that these much-feared changes are manageable, particularly when the tax office takes a pragmatic approach to IR35 compliance. The IR35 check, involving a global organisation engaging over 300 contractors, was successfully shut down…

Unemployment is creeping up as the number of people not working due to long-term sickness rose to a new record and vacancies continued to decline in an early sign that the labour market is cooling, official figures show. The jobless rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to reach 3.9 per cent, from a low of…

The restaurant group owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay narrowed losses to £1m last year as sales more than tripled after Covid restrictions were eased. Ramsay has an interest in 50 restaurants including 36 directly operated outlets in the UK, such as the Michelin-starred Pétrus and the Savoy Grill, as well as 14 licensed venues…

Half of UK small business owners believes their mental health has suffered from the stress of managing their business finances in the past year. A new survey conducted to mark Mental Health Awareness Week has uncovered the emotional cost of being your own boss during the cost of living crisis. The owners of smaller businesses which…

Recruitment fell sharply in April, suggesting that employers are holding back on hiring as business confidence continues to be impacted by economic uncertainty. That’s according to the latest statistics from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) – the trade body for the professional recruitment sector. The data – provided by the global leader in…

Three universities have been awarded a share of funding to drive digital innovation across UK SMEs, as part of the HNCDI programme The Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI) programme seeks to improve digital adoption across businesses, targeting funding and support toward UK SMEs – small and medium-sized enterprises. Delivering competitive advantage to these…