For first time ever, more small firms expect to shrink than grow July 14, 2025 More small business owners expect their firm will shrink, shut or be bought over next year than predict a year of growth – for the first time in at least 15 years. According to a poll by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), 27 per cent of bosses believe their company will downsize, be sold [...]
Personal guarantees ‘overuse’ holding UK growth back July 7, 2025 The “overuse” of personal guarantees in borrowing arrangements is holding businesses back and stifling UK growth, innovators have warned, with only a small minority of companies claiming they would borrow from banks with their personal savings or assets on the line. A new survey of some 1,400 small business owners by the Federation of Small [...]
Business groups pour cold water on pay transparency plans June 18, 2025 Plans to make business tell workers what their colleagues earn have sparked a flurry of warnings from industry chiefs that they will hinder bosses’ flexibility to pay staff fairly, and may not work for smaller employers. Ministers are currently looking at ways to end pay discrimination, with options including making companies publish remuneration structures and [...]
Mark Kleinman: Reeves’ City IPO push still lacks momentum May 22, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly CityAM column Reeves’ City IPO push still lacks momentum It’s the City’s most oft-recurring question: how do you reverse the alarming decline in London’s attractiveness as a destination for IPOs? The bald statistics legitimise the urgency of the [...]
Treasury to scrap valuation quango amid efficiency drive April 28, 2025 The Valuation Office Agency will be folded into HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the tax minister has said, in the latest sign of the government’s efforts to trim away fat from the operations of the state. The arms length body responsible for valuing properties to determine tax rates, which spans £60bn worth of valuation each [...]
Small firms splash out £25bn on tax compliance as HMRC accused of ‘poor service’ April 22, 2025 Small firms are set to stump up a combined £25bn on tax compliance this year, a leading industry body has said, as it accused HMRC of failing to answer phone calls or letters. Calls for a vast reform of the UK’s tax system have come from leading think tanks and policymakers for several years. But [...]
Business groups attack ‘deeply damaging’ employment reforms April 16, 2025 The UK’s five largest business groups have warned that the government’s flagship workers’ rights package will be “deeply damaging” to the UK’s growth prospects and will worsen living standards in the UK. In a co-ordinated effort, Britain’s ‘Big Five’ business groups have taken the unusual step of writing to all members of the House of [...]
UK tech startups sound alarm over US tariffs April 8, 2025 The UK’s small and medium-sized tech firms have raised concerns following President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 10 per cent tariff on British goods entering the United States. As part of a sweeping trade shift dubbed ‘Liberation Day’ by the Trump administration, these new levies have injected uncertainty over UK-US economic relations, provoking anxiety among [...]
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 [...]
Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul has small business owners scared February 11, 2025 As the government’s long-awaited overhaul to workers rights’ returns to the Commons, small business owners are worried not enough has been done enough to accommodate their concerns, writes Ali Lyon. For a company that promises to unleash clients’ growth by helping them overcome knotty engineering issues, Bass Rock consultancy has adopted a staid approach to [...]