Public sector borrowing shows first year-on-year fall since start of pandemic May 25, 2021 Public sector borrowing is estimated to have been £31.7bn in April, £15.6bn less than in the same month last year when public finances first fell the full impact of the pandemic. The fall in borrowing in April compared with a year earlier is the first annual decline since the start of the pandemic, but last month’s borrowing remains huge [...]
EY staff to work two days a week from home post pandemic May 24, 2021 EY has today confirmed that the majority of its staff will work from home for two days a week for good, the latest big business to eschew a return to the traditional office life. The Big Four firm’s 17,500 staff will spend three days a week in the office or at client sites, with the [...]
Has lockdown triggered a City brain-drain? May 20, 2021 The explosion in home-working due to lockdown is shifting the focus away from a London-centric view of careers, with regional firms benefiting from a growing desire to shun the commute. Lockdown is prompting a shift away from City jobs to opportunities at smaller, regional practices with talent-hungry boutique firms stretching to match Square Mile-level salary [...]
Childcare and chores leave professional women burned out during pandemic May 19, 2021 Female professionals in the UK have suffered a huge hit to their work-life balance during the pandemic, with many feeling burned out after juggling childcare, housework and heavy workloads for the last year. Research by Deloitte quizzed 5,000 women in 10 countries, including 500 white-collar women in the UK, and found the pandemic and subsequent [...]
ABI director general to take up partner role at KPMG May 19, 2021 Huw Evans, director general at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), will join KPMG as a partner next January in the Big Four firm’s insurance and long-term savings division. Evans had been director general at the ABI for more than six years, during which he represented the insurance industry through Brexit, Solvency II implementation, pension [...]
Funding Circle revises up earnings expectations May 19, 2021 Funding platform Funding Circle has revised up its earnings estimates after its involvement with the Covid support scheme gave a boost to the business. In a market update today, the group said it now expects its H1 2021 total income to be no lower than £120m and AEBITDA to be no lower than £40m [...]
Carillion liquidators secure funding to take KPMG to court for audit failures May 19, 2021 Carillion’s liquidators have secured a £250m funding deal with a litigation funder to take KPMG to court for audit failures. Litigation Capital Management (LCM) will fund a claim against the Big Four firm in the Commercial Court of the High Court. Carillion’s liquidators are taking KPMG to court for perceived audit failures, resulting in losses [...]
UK CPI: Inflation rate surges to 1.5 per cent in April May 19, 2021 UK inflation more than doubled to 1.5 per cent in April, up from 0.7 per cent in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning. Economists had forecast a rise of 1.4 per cent, as a jump in electricity and gas bills pushed inflation higher. Core inflation, which excludes energy prices and other [...]
KPMG Chair: We can only tackle social mobility once we confront falling numeracy levels May 19, 2021 Numeracy skills are vital to us all, whether at work or simply helping us to navigate daily life, like managing money. Despite this fact, far too many people are lacking in confidence where our maths ability is concerned. In fact, nearly half of the UK’s working population has the expected numeracy level of a primary school child. [...]
UK unemployment rate unexpectedly falls to 4.8 per cent May 18, 2021 Britain’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.8 per cent between January and March, official figures showed this morning. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold at 4.9 per cent during the first quarter of the year, given that the country was in lockdown. The rate of employment in the UK increased for the fifth [...]