Going legal: Why ‘no jab, no job’ could hurt more than any needle January 22, 2021 Nearly a year on from the start of the pandemic, many employers and employees will be attracted by the prospect of a workforce that is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, which may take them closer towards a safe return to “normality”. Mandatory vaccination is not expected at a national level – public health legislation expressly prohibits [...]
Art Fund unveils new grants as museums fight for survival January 22, 2021 Creative charity Art Fund has announced a further tranche of emergency funding for UK museums amid concerns the latest lockdown could put venues out of business. The charity today said it was committing an extra £750,000 in grants, taking its total Covid-19 response fund to £2.25m. Recipients of the latest support include the Cinema Museum [...]
Vaccine hopes fail to inject consumer confidence during lockdown January 21, 2021 The nation’s largest ever vaccination programme failed to buoy UK consumer confidence during the latest national lockdown, a new survey has shown, as widespread gloom about current Covid restrictions prevailed into the New Year. The closely-watched consumer confidence index from researcher GfK fell two points to minus 28 in January after a slight uptick over [...]
Priti Patel introduces new £800 fine for large gatherings January 21, 2021 People attending gatherings in groups of 15 or more during lockdown will each be slapped with a new £800 fine, the home secretary has announced. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Priti Patel said: “My message is clear, if you don’t follow the rules, the police will enforce them. Police officers are now moving [...]
London sees biggest drop in Covid case rate as capital stays indoors January 21, 2021 London has reported the biggest drop in Covid case rates among English regions, as scientists’ warnings that hospitalis may soon be overwhelmed reverberate around the capital. The average number of infections in London fell to around 630 per 100,000 people last week, according to the latest official figures — down from 865 in the first [...]
Millions of Brits still missing out on self-employment grants January 21, 2021 The government has faced mounting calls to increase the number of grants for self-employed workers, after the spending watchdog yesterday warned millions are still missing out on financial support. A survey of more than 6,000 households released today by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) found that only 24 per cent of self-employed people had [...]
Exclusive: ‘Banks should deliver the same experience as Amazon and Netflix’, says Ezbob CEO January 21, 2021 After a year that was hugely disrupted by Covid-19 and the entire economy and its workforce moved online, City A.M. sat down with Tomer Guriel, CEO of Mayfair-based Ezbob, which provides digital lending software to some of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the City. A vaccine is being rolled out, so the City [...]
London buses converted into temporary ambulances to ease Covid pressure January 21, 2021 Two London buses have been converted into temporary ambulances to alleviate the pressure of Covid-19 on the NHS across the capital. Starting the service in the next few days, NHS staff have been prepped and vaccinated to transport up to four patients in the makeshift ambulances which have been stripped of seats and adapted with [...]
Bank of England revamps stress test to address virus fallout January 21, 2021 The Bank of England announced on Wednesday that it is tweaking stress tests in the UK banking sector to include fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The BoE has set out a worst-case scenario for the economy which it will test British lenders against. The 2021 stress test will use periods when the economy is growing [...]
Third lockdown ‘far more challenging this time around’ for auditors January 21, 2021 The timing of England’s third national lockdown has posed new and more difficult challenges for audit firms to overcome, that could see annual results delayed or even qualified. With lockdown rules urging people to stay home to stop the spread of coronavirus, auditors are struggling to physically carry out necessary tasks to perform an audit. [...]