The inflation rate rose to 10.1% in the 12 months to July, the highest level since February 1982. The rate has risen sharply over recent months and was up from 9.4% in June. The July figure was the highest annual consumer price index (CPI) inflation, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Increased food…
Read more
Smaller businesses across England received £21.3bn through the Covid-19 local authority business support grants scheme, but fraud levels were high. Estimates show that an estimated £1.03bn of grants were made fraudulently, but the BEIS report does not address the fraud issue. Earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee warned that local authorities should have made…
Read more
The number of company insolvencies in England and Wales jumped by a third compared to pre-pandemic levels in December 2021 The number of registered company insolvencies reported in December 2021 sat at 1,486, which is an 11.4% decrease from the 1,674 reported in November but a 20% increase from the 1,237 reported in the same…
Read more
The government has announced plans to delay the introduction of penalties for late submission of VAT returns. The new penalty system was due to come into effect from 1 April 2022 but this has now been delayed by nine months until January 2023. In a statement to MPs, Lucy Frazer, financial secretary to the Treasury,…
Read more
Three out of five companies expect to increase their prices in the next three months due to the continuing supply chain disruption, soaring inflation, and rising energy costs The 58% of businesses that reported the price increase in the British Chambers of Commerce’s (BCC) Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) is the highest proportion on record. The…
Read more
Businesses believe that they will need skills in finance, trade, and taxation to help them navigate business growth over the next 20 years. According to the Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, 83% of businesses expect the next 20 years to be more challenging than the last two decades which included the 2008 financial crisis, recession, Brexit,…
Read more
Accountants believe that more than one in four UK SMEs have still not returned to pre-Covid-19 levels of productivity or turnover. The latest Association of Chartered Certified Accountant’s (ACCA) SME recovery tracker revealed that four in five UK SMEs are not seeking finance to grow in the next six to 12 months with 30% of…
Read more
The Chancellor has announced a £1bn support package including grants for the hospitality sector and a sick pay rebate scheme as omicron variant spreads Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors in England will be eligible for one-off grants of up to £6,000 per premises, plus more than £100m discretionary funding will be made available…
Read more
The Bank of England has raised the bank base rate for the first time in three years to 0.25%, despite concerns over omicron variant. At its meeting ending on 15 December 2021, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a majority of 8-1 to increase Bank Rate by 0.15%, to 0.25%. This is the first…
Read more
The latest figures on use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme show that 11.7m jobs were supported by furlough throughout the pandemic, highlighting the risk of HMRC investigations Since the start of the scheme in March 2020 a total of 11.7m jobs have been supported by the CJRS at various times and the scheme was…
Read more
