Britain’s renewable electricity generation hit a new record for the third quarter of 2025, with wind and solar output combining to deliver the country’s cleanest power mix on record, according to the latest data from Montel Analytics. In the three months to the end of September, total renewable output — including wind, solar, hydro and biomass — reached 31.9 terawatt ...
UK unemployment has risen to its highest level since the 2021 lockdown, while wage growth has cooled to its weakest pace in more than three years, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures, released on Tuesday, show the unemployment rate increased to 4.8% in the three months to August, up from 4.7% in ...
The UK economy is losing as much as £3.5 billion a year as tens of thousands of women leave the technology sector amid stalled career progression, unequal pay and weak leadership pipelines, according to a new landmark report released to mark Ada Lovelace Day. The 2025 Lovelace Report: Unlocking £2–3.5 Billion, published on Tuesday, reveals that between 40,000 and 60,000 ...
Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, is deepening his commitment to Britain’s innovation economy with an additional £890 million investment in the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), dramatically expanding its footprint at Oxford Science Park. The move comes as the 81-year-old tycoon faces scrutiny over the institute’s leadership and direction following a year of internal upheaval. Yet the fresh ...
Retail sales growth cooled sharply last month as households tightened budgets ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s November Budget and heavy storms kept shoppers off the high street. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG show retail sales rose 2.3% year on year in the five weeks to October 4, down from 3.1% in the previous period. Although still ...
Retail technology platform Patchworks has secured £5 million in new funding to accelerate its expansion into the United States and scale its next generation of AI-powered integration tools for enterprise retailers. The round, led by existing backer Gresham House Ventures with growth lending from Palatine Growth Credit, comes as the company reports a 41 per cent year-on-year increase in annual ...
The Open University (OU) has joined forces with NatWest and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to relaunch the Open Business Creators Fund, a nationwide initiative offering early-stage women entrepreneurs financial support, mentoring, and access to training resources. Launched in a video message by Baroness Martha Lane Fox, Chancellor of The Open University, the competition offers individual grants of ...
VRFY Solutions Group UK, an AI-driven transcription and data intelligence platform founded by two veteran police officers, has secured £200,000 in pre-seed investment led by Fuel Ventures. The funding will accelerate adoption of the company’s secure AI transcription solution within UK police forces and lay the groundwork for expansion into other critical sectors, including healthcare and the NHS. VRFY’s technology ...
The UK head of Fujitsu Services Limited, the company behind the Post Office’s disastrous Horizon IT system, has received a 50% pay rise — despite the firm still refusing to quantify compensation for hundreds of wrongly convicted sub-postmasters. The Japan-owned technology giant handed its best-paid UK executive — believed to be Anwen Owen, Fujitsu’s UK chief — £591,000 in total ...
A new €10 million (£8.6 million) initiative will accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in British science, business, and public services, marking a major collaboration between the UK and the European Union. The University of Edinburgh’s EPCC, home to the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre, has been awarded joint EU and UK Government funding to establish the UK AI ...