UK urged to include private sector to ramp up coronavirus testing April 1, 2020 The UK must utilise the country’s private laboratories if it is going to reach its coronavirus testing targets, according to a report from a leading London think tank. The government is beginning to face scathing criticism as it fails to meet testing targets and as the UK falls further behind other OECD countries in testing [...]
UK mobilises army, navy and air force reservists for coronavirus fight April 1, 2020 The UK has mobilised 3,000 army, navy and air force reservists to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Defence said today. “It is expected that 3,000 reservists will be required as part of this tranche and will initially be mobilised for six months, to be kept under review,” the ministry said. “The reserve [...]
Nearly 1m people apply for Universal Credit as coronavirus lockdown paralyses economy April 1, 2020 Nearly 1m people in the UK have applied for Universal Credit in the two weeks since Prime Minister Boris Johnson implemented strict lockdown measures, the government said today. There are normally around 100,000 applicants per two week period – in the last two weeks there were 950,000. The government has moved 10,000 staff to process [...]
Nationwide further tightens criteria for new mortgages as coronavirus crisis bites April 1, 2020 Building society Nationwide has further tightened its lending criteria, excluding bonus, overtime and commission as income it recognises for new mortgage applications. The move follows its decision yesterday to withdraw its offering for low deposit borrowers. Nationwide yesterday withdrew mortgages above 75 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) from its online and broker channels and restricted them [...]
Southend Hospital will ‘restrict services’ without more protective equipment April 1, 2020 Staff at Essex’s Southend Hospital have warned they may have to limit services if they do not receive more protective equipment to treat coronavirus patients. Frontline staff at the hospital wrote to management to say that if they did not get an increase in personal protective equipment (PPE) by the end of the day they [...]
Coronavirus: M&S gives staff 15 per cent bonus April 1, 2020 Marks and Spencer will give frontline staff across its stores and supply chain a 15 per cent bonus for their work during the coronavirus pandemic. The company also said employees that “have caring commitments or who are feeling more vulnerable” are able to be furloughed voluntarily on full pay. The retailer announced this morning that [...]
FTSE 100 tumbles after coronavirus forces banks to cut dividends April 1, 2020 The FTSE 100 closed down 3.4 per cent at 5,478 points today after the UK’s major banks were punished by investors after scrapping dividends last night. The fall came after the index finished its worst quarter since 1987 yesterday. Shedding more than 24 per cent of its value, the FTSE 100 was pummelled over fears [...]
Warner Media names Hulu co-founder Jason Kilar as new chief executive April 1, 2020 Warner Media today said it has appointed veteran media boss Jason Kilar as its new chief executive. Kilar, a former Amazon executive and founding chief executive of streaming service Hulu, will take over the top role from 1 May. He replaces John Stankey, who in September was promoted to chief operating officer of parent company [...]
Coronavirus: Banks must ‘repay the favour’ to taxpayer after 2008 crash April 1, 2020 Business secretary Alok Sharma has made a plea for banks to make more loans available for businesses during the coronavirus crisis. Speaking at today’s daily press briefing, Sharma said banks were bailed out by the taxpayers in 2008 and that they must “repay the favour”. Small and medium businesses (SMEs) struggling with the fallout from [...]
Coronavirus: Businesses call on banks to do more as small firms face closure April 1, 2020 The business community has called for the UK’s banks to do more to support struggling smaller companies after it emerged that 20 per cent of all UK SMEs could shut within the month due to the coronavirus lockdown. Any UK small business with a turnover of up to £45m a year can, under new Treasury [...]
