Reeves hands small businesses sour cocktail in Autumn Budget November 26, 2025 Small and mudiec-sized businesses (SMEs) now face a sour cocktail of higher taxes, rising costs, and tighter margins following Rachel Reeves’ second Budget as Chancellor. Dividend taxes are up, income tax and National Insurance thresholds remain frozen until 2030-31, and salary-sacrifice pension reliefs are being curtailed. For many small business owners, the Budget will feel [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves targets job market with skills package November 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves has used today’s Autumn Budget to unveil a sweeping £1.5bn skills package aimed at tackling the UK’s entrenched labour shortages and sluggish productivity. The Chancellor said the country “cannot compete without investing in our people”, pitching the reforms as central to her long-term economic renewal plan. The measures represent the biggest shake-up of [...]
Businesses expected to be named and shamed over minimum wage breaches November 22, 2025 The government will regularly name and shame employers who breach national minimum wage rules as part of reforms expected to be announced by Rachel Reeves. A Treasury source said the expected changes will provide further protection to vulnerable workers and ensure businesses have no place to hide. The reforms are also aimed at clearing a [...]
Reeves’ Budget tax rumours threaten UK tech November 18, 2025 The UK’s tech sector is facing a critical moment ahead of the Autumn Budget. Rumoured caps on salary sacrifice pensions, alongside potential property and wealth taxes, threaten to hit the very talent and investment needed to drive growth in the sector. At the same time, the country faces a widening tech skills gap, leaving businesses [...]
AI startups lead growth despite market jitters and IPO drought November 10, 2025 AI firms have driven a 44 per cent increase in the combined value of the world’s top 100 private tech firms, even as concerns grow that the AI boom could be overheating and Britain’s startups warn of a worsening funding climate. According to new data from PwC, the total valuation of the global top 100 [...]
“The bad guys don’t break in – they log in”, says cyber expert November 8, 2025 It is no surprise that cybersecurity is now at the top of boardroom agendas. Over the past 18 months, a spate of high-profile breaches has exposed vulnerabilities across sectors, from retail and finance to automotive supply chains. Jaguar Land Rover, the latest headline hit, was forced to halt production for five weeks in late 2024 [...]
Government-backed bank fuels entrepreneurship for unemployed Brits November 4, 2025 The British Business Bank has announced that nearly £150m in loans has been handed to unemployed people to help them start their own businesses since 2012. The figure represents 22 per cent of all finance issued through the government-backed ‘start-up loans’ programme, which aims to support entrepreneurs who may find it difficult to secure funding [...]
Trump’s DEI crackdown sparks ethics exodus across UK businesses October 30, 2025 US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on initiatives such as diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) and environmental sustainability has drifted across the Atlantic. According to research by law firm Freeths, over half of UK businesses (54 per cent) have changed the way they approach ethical policies and practices. While over a quarter (28 per cent) have [...]
AI investment lacks basic safety checks, warns BSI October 27, 2025 Many businesses are investing heavily in AI without sufficient safeguards for its implementation, a new study by the British Standards Institution (BSI) has found. While executives are touting AI’s potential to drive productivity, the report suggests that most firms are operating with little more than blind faith in a technology they do not yet fully [...]
UK SMEs brace for inflation strain as confidence slips October 22, 2025 Small business (SME) optimism is faltering as sticky inflation, labour shortages and rising borrowing costs pile pressure on firms already stretched by thin margins and political uncertainty. Small business confidence dipped in September, with recent Opinium polling suggesting that UK entrepreneurs are increasingly uneasy about the months ahead. The latest figures from the National Federation [...]