Sainsbury’s trials queuing app for local lockdowns July 27, 2020 Sainsbury’s has launched a virtual queuing app to prepare for potential local lockdowns, with trials beginning at five UK stores today. Customers will be able to use the Ufirst app to queue at stores in Pimlico and Uxbridge in London from today. The supermarket will also test the app at stores in Newham Royal Wharf, [...]
Sadiq Khan calls on government to extend furlough scheme July 27, 2020 Sadiq Khan has once again called on the government to extend its furlough scheme for struggling sectors ahead of changes this weekend which could lead to a surge in unemployment. From Saturday employers will have to pay national insurance and pension contributions for furloughed employees. However, for many sectors such as hospitality and leisure, the [...]
City Harvest redistributes 1.5m meals to hungry Londoners July 27, 2020 Though Covid-19 may have been labelled by some as The Great Equaliser it has only enhanced London’s social inequalities, according to a charity dedicated to redistributing excess meals to the hungry. Food poverty has increased in the wake of rising unemployment and school shutdowns, with more than 3m Brits going hungry due to the coronavirus [...]
CBILS: Three ways SMEs can avoid a coronavirus loan rejection July 27, 2020 It has been nearly four months since the Treasury introduced the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) in a bid to help firms through the pandemic. The scheme did not arrive without criticisms, coming under fire for what its critics called its unclear eligibility criteria and demanding personal guarantees. While some issues have since been [...]
Rishi Sunak mulls online sales tax for e-commerce retailers July 27, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is mulling a new tax on online retail sales to ease pressure on the struggling UK high street. In a call for evidence published last week the Treasury sought industry views on a potential online sales tax for e-commerce retailers to help physical stores compete. The tax, which would exist alongside business [...]
UK economy could take four years to recover, says EY July 27, 2020 The UK economy will take four years to return to its 2019 size as consumer caution and high levels of unemployment weigh on growth, economic forecaster EY Item Club has predicted. EY Item Club said it expects the UK economy to shrink by an enormous 11.5 per cent this year and then grow by just [...]
Astrazeneca secures $6bn cancer drug deal with Japan’s Daiichi July 27, 2020 Astrazeneca is set to pay up to $6bn (£4.7bn) to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo to develop and market a cancer treatment, marking the second multi-billion dollar cancer drug deal between the two companies. London-listed Astrazeneca today said it will pay Daiichi an upfront payment pf $1bn for an antibody drug conjugate — a class of treatments [...]
FTSE airline stocks slump over UK’s Spain travel quarantine July 27, 2020 Airline stocks slumped on the FTSE 100 today in the aftermath of Britain’s move to reimpose a travel quarantine on Spain. The government scrapped a travel corridor between the UK and Spain over the weekend, after the country recorded 900 new Covid-19 cases for two days running last week. Airlines blasted the government’s decision, which [...]
Over-40s to pay more tax under plans to solve social care crisis July 27, 2020 Over-40s will be forced to pay more tax or national insurance under radical new plans being considered by ministers to solve the social care crisis, according to reports. Under fresh government plans, everyone under the age of 40 will have to start contributing towards the cost of care in later life, or be compelled to [...]
City Pub Group toasts return to profitability after reopening July 27, 2020 City Pub Group this morning toasted a return to profitability since reopening after the coronavirus lockdown. The pub chain, which has so far reopened 32 of its 48 pubs, said total sales for the three weeks since reopening on 4 July were £1.8m. On a like-for-like basis sales have reached 63 per cent of pre-pandemic [...]