UK growth outlook slashed amid tax and trade ‘double whammy’ March 5, 2025 The Chancellor’s growth agenda was dealt a fresh blow on Thursday after the British Chambers of Commerce slashed its forecast for the UK economy due to the tax and trade “double whammy” afflicting UK businesses. The business group now expects the UK economy to grow by just 0.9 per cent in 2025, a hefty downgrade [...]
Bank of England warns ‘age of uncertainty’ stopping rapid rate cuts March 5, 2025 An “age of uncertainty”, especially over the path of inflation, means that rapid interest rate cuts are unlikely to be coming to the UK, top Bank of England officials have said. Huw Pill, chief economist at the Bank of England, said the central bank was unlikely to make “larger and more rapid cuts to interest [...]
M&S to invest £95m in staff pay despite higher wage taxes March 5, 2025 Marks and Spencer will invest £95m into higher pay for its retail staff, despite “cost pressures” from the government. From 1 April, the rate of pay for UK Customer Assistants will increase from £12 to £12.60 per hour, up five per cent year on year and up 26 per cent since 2022. It is higher [...]
UK business confidence in crisis, new report says March 5, 2025 More than three quarters of bosses have low confidence in the UK business environment, according to a survey by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) think tank. The ASI Business Confidence Survey took the temperature of 192 business leaders, who between them represent 100,000 employees – from sectors including finance, retail and manufacturing. It paints a [...]
Foxtons: Estate agent boosts dividend as property sales pickup March 5, 2025 London’s biggest letting agent, Foxtons, has raised its final dividend by 30 per cent after double-digit revenue growth. The company’s growth was driven by sales rather than lettings in the year ended December 31, 2024, with sales revenue up 31 per cent year on year and lettings up five per cent. Foxtons added that sales revenue [...]
Boxpark launches new concept alongside a new CEO March 5, 2025 Matt Snell grew up above a pub and has done “every single job there is to do in hospitality”. For the last seven years, he’s been running Italian chain Gusto, directing it through a set of unquestionably tough years for the hospitality sector. Now, he’s running London’s Boxpark – and spearheading the roll-out of its [...]
Events, dear boy, events: Starmer’s defence challenge could be his biggest opportunity March 5, 2025 In July 2020, the then chief executive of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan, gave a speech to the Whitehall & Industry Group titled: ‘“Events, Dear Boy”: managing incidents before they become crises’. He told listeners: “When Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman, he replied: ‘Events, dear [...]
AI and hybrid patterns set to determine the future of work March 5, 2025 Rising employment costs have driven many UK businesses towards investing in AI instead of hiring new employees, while workers are resisting efforts to increase office mandates in favour of working from home (WFH). New research from Linkedin and Pleo has revealed the tension between using AI as a cost-saving tactic, and the need for meaningful [...]
NHS delays drive demand for private healthcare to record March 4, 2025 Private healthcare market has broken yet another record, with private hospital admissions hitting their highest Q3 on record
Vitality: Profit on the up at health and life insurance giant March 4, 2025 Health and life insurer Vitality returned to profit growth during the first six months of its current financial year, it has been revealed. The company, which is UK’s third-largest health insurer behind Bupa and Axa, has posted a normalised profit from £40m for the final six months of 2024. Its UK health division reported a [...]