William Vereker, the chairman of Santander UK and a former business envoy under Theresa May, has attributed Britain’s soaring benefits bill and long-term worklessness to weak numeracy and a poor grasp of financial fundamentals. Speaking against the backdrop of a fast-rising sickness benefit budget, Vereker warned that many people overlook the long-term career gains of work simply because the immediate ...
The UK’s struggling high street has shed nearly 170,000 retail jobs this year—the biggest annual toll since pandemic lockdowns in 2020—as shops grapple with higher taxes, surging costs and weakening consumer spending. Figures from Altus Group and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) reveal a 42 per cent jump in job losses compared with 2023, bringing the total to 169,395 ...
Britain’s petrol station tycoons, Mohsin and Zuber Issa, are weighing up a potential £13 billion listing of their forecourt empire, EG Group, on an American stock market. The move would mark another blow for the London Stock Exchange, which has been hit by a raft of high-profile companies choosing to float abroad. Sources suggest that EG Group and their private ...
Businesses failing to support employees undergoing fertility treatment risk high staff turnover and rising sick leave, according to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). One in seven couples now experience fertility challenges, NHS figures show, prompting calls for formal workplace policies that include flexible working hours, paid time off for treatment, and compassionate leave where necessary. Ann Francke, CMI chief executive, ...
British companies are gearing up for a stronger start to 2025, with fresh data suggesting that the majority expect higher turnover and increased hiring in the new year—welcome news for Labour’s pledge to revive the country’s sluggish economic growth. Surveys from Lloyds and KPMG indicate that 70 per cent of firms anticipate revenue growth in the first quarter of 2025, ...
More than 400 pubs in England and Wales have either shut down or been repurposed over the past year, taking the total number below 39,000 for the first time. Commercial real estate firm Altus Group says 412 public houses were demolished or converted for alternative use in 2024, leaving only 38,989 in operation. The UK’s brewing and hospitality sectors have ...
Major government contractors are pushing the costs of rising national insurance (NI) and higher wage bills back onto the Treasury, prompting concerns over the ultimate burden on taxpayers. Cleaning and facilities management groups such as Churchill Group and Mitie, together with construction giant Mace, are among those negotiating with Whitehall to pass on the financial impact of April’s employment-related tax ...
Middle-class parents have welcomed the government’s move to introduce a 20 per cent VAT charge on private school fees, according to education secretary Bridget Phillipson. Speaking ahead of the policy’s launch this Wednesday, Phillipson says that many families are “priced out” of independent education by rising costs, and now want a stronger state system instead. With some boarding schools charging ...
A survey by one of the UK’s top holiday providers has found that senior executives choose Austria ski holidays above destinations in other alpine nations, not only for corporate meetings and incentive travel but also for their own family ski trips. Here’s how the Austrian Alps beat France to become your boss’ winter sports vacation go-to. For many in the ...
Could Nigel Farage really be the next UK Prime Minister? It’s a question that, a mere five years ago, would have sounded rather like asking if we’d ever see Piers Morgan run the Ministry of Manners. And yet here we are, with Farage’s Reform UK party reportedly garnering a surge in new members—apparently outrunning the Conservatives in the membership stakes, ...