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 [...]
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 [...]
Foreign takeovers of UK companies plummet amid M&A decline March 4, 2025 The number of foreign investors launching M&A deals for UK companies plummeted in the fourth quarter of last year, with only £4.5bn spent by buyers from abroad. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the number of foreign companies acquiring UK companies (known as ‘inward M&A) fell to its to its lowest level [...]
‘Sell’ Greggs shares analysts say after poor results March 4, 2025 High street bakery Greggs has reported a double-digit increase in sales for 2024, taking it past the £2bn sales milestone for the first time. However, its share price fell more than eight per cent in early trades, which analysts attributed to a slowdown in sales growth. “Profits are up but it’s not the stellar performance [...]
Beazley records record profit despite wildfire losses March 4, 2025 Lloyd’s of London insurer Beazley has reported a record profit before tax of $1.4bn (£1.1bn) for 2024, a 13 per cent increase from the previous year. The specialist insurer also announced a $500m (£394m) share buyback programme alongside a 76 per cent rise in its ordinary dividend to 25p per share. Gross insurance written premiums [...]
How have women’s pensions fared over the last 100 years? March 4, 2025 This year marks 115 years of International Women's Day, but how have women's pensions changed in that time?
Bosses fear workers’ rights overhaul more than National Insurance hike March 3, 2025 Employers are more worried about the government’s upcoming reforms to workers’ rights than the widely condemned National Insurance rises announced in the October Budget, a fresh poll has revealed. More than a third (34 per cent) of bosses cited the far-reaching overhaul to employment rights as the biggest challenge facing their organisation in 2025 despite [...]
Small businesses forced to raise prices ahead of national insurance jump March 3, 2025 The price of small businesses’ goods and services is set to be the latest victim of Rachel Reeves’ national insurance hike, a new survey has revealed. More than four-in-ten of the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have said the government’s increase in National Insurance Contributions (NIC) for employers will negatively impact them. Nearly a [...]
Did IR35 really generate £4.2bn in extra taxes? March 3, 2025 A report on IR35 revealed that £4.2bn was generated in extra tax since the reforms, but experts have warned that the impact "has been continually downplayed"