Rachel Reeves set for £20bn OBR productivity downgrade October 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ ballooning fiscal black hole is set to deepen as the fiscal watchdog hands the Chancellor its final productivity forecast on Friday. The Treasury is already battling to contain public finances after a U-turn on welfare reforms ruined hopes of £5bn in savings, and a £190bn spending splurge on government departments helped erode the Chancellor’s wafer-thin [...]
Better workplaces will make Britain more productive October 11, 2025 The UK’s significant productivity crisis is exacerbated by outdated and inefficient office environments, and improving these workplaces is a practical and cost-effective starting point for businesses to boost national output, employee efficiency and staff retention, says Phil Bentley Last Friday, The Office for Budget Responsibility submitted its latest estimates for the UK economy to the [...]
OBR risks being ‘unreasonably pessimistic’ as Reeves set to be given leeway October 10, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) risks being “unreasonably pessimistic” if it decides to downgrade productivity growth trends by more than 0.1 percentage point, fresh analysis has indicated, in what could hand Chancellor Rachel Reeves some extra leeway at this year’s Budget. The fiscal watchdog is widely expected to downgrade productivity forecasts as part of [...]
Reeves must reject this finger-wagging, fun-sapping, tax-loving nonsense October 8, 2025 The Chancellor may have felt in need of a stiff drink after absorbing the latest productivity figures handed to her by the Office for Budget Responsibility, and who could blame her? The OBR is widely expected to have significantly downgraded its productivity forecasts while at the same time conceding that it’s been overestimating productivity growth [...]
Doing business in Britain is too difficult, too expensive and too uncertain September 30, 2025 Business confidence is at a three-year low and productivity has not improved for 15 years. It is businesses that policymakers must turn to – and fast – to get growth back on track, writes ICAEW chief executive Alan Vallance Whatever your political leanings, we can all agree that the UK faces a challenging economic context. Weak [...]
The Debate: Should workers be entitled to ‘digital downtime’? September 3, 2025 Would periods of 'digital silence' in the working week help make workers more productive? Two writers battle it out.
Business investment falls as alarm bells rung on low productivity August 14, 2025 Business investment fell by four per cent in the second quarter of the year despite moderate growth of 0.3 per cent, official data has shown, as top economists are ringing alarm bells on low productivity levels across the UK economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was a dramatic fall in investment compared [...]
The Debate: Should UK businesses follow Europe’s August shutdown tradition? July 30, 2025 The French (supposedly) do it, so why not us? We get two writers to weigh up the pros and cons of the August shutdown in this week's debate.
Switch off? Here’s the books to read to stay switched on this summer July 25, 2025 Hate to switch off? Fear not, How To Make A Billion book author Richard Harpin gives his holiday reading guide to stay switched on.
Enough with black-hole blaming, Reeves is ignoring low hanging fruit July 15, 2025 Raising taxes and plugging black holes, Reeves's discourse ignores proven (and easier) methods to boost productivity, says Paul Ormerod.