Business News Articles

New postal strike dates announced
Small business owners have been warned that on Friday the 6th and Monday the 9th of November there will be more postal strikes. Unlike the current strikes, which have involved members in different roles striking on different days, the two new dates will be all-out strikes. The Royal Mail recently claimed that the recent strikes had led to a backlog of 35 million items. The Communication W... more

SMEs reminded of change to payroll filing
Small businesses owners have been reminded that electronic payroll filing will be compulsory for all companies from 2009-10. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will require all employers to file their P35 and P14 year-end tax and national insurance documents online. According to software supplier IRIS many businesses are unprepared for this change and consequently has issued a guide to the HMRC req... more

House prices higher than a year ago
House prices in the UK were higher this October compared to the same month last year - the first annual rise for 19 months -according to data released by the Nationwide. Property prices were 2% higher this October than the same month in 2008, meaning that the average home is now worth £162,038. The data also revealed that the rate of monthly price rises has slowed, with house prices in Oct... more

Entrepreneur Week commences Nov 16th
Small business owners have been reminded that Global Entrepreneurship Week commences on the 16th of November. Leading serviced office provider MWB Business Exchange (MWBex), the official venue partner of Global Entrepreneurship Week UK, is offering event organisers free space in its Meeting Venues around the UK to run activities during the Week via a competition. Organisers who want to run e... more

New talks seek postal strike deal
Royal Mail and leaders from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are to hold more talks aimed at ending the dispute over pay and modernisation. If no agreement is reached then postal workers - who went on strike for two days last week - are planning more action on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Royal Mail says it is continuing to deal with a backlog of 30m items after last Thursday and ... more

UK economy contracts 0.4%
The UK economy contracted by 0.4% between July and September, meaning that the country is still in recession, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics. This is the first time that UK gross domestic product has contracted for six successive quarters since quarterly figures were introduced in 1955. The figures revealed that no component of the economy grew in the thi... more

Small firms given chance to win £10,000
Small business owners are being offered the chance to win £10,000 through a competition run by Viking Direct, the direct-mail office supplies channel of Office Depot in Europe and WinWeb. Small and medium-sized businesses have to produce a business plan to convince an expert panel that the money would be used to provide maximum benefits for their business in order to win the competition. "W... more

Retail sales show no growth
UK retail sales in September have remained unchanged from Augusts' figures, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is the second consecutive month that sales have shown no monthly change. Despite the lack of growth retail sales are still 2.4% above the level seen in September 2008. The figures have cast doubt on the strength of any economic recovery, with figures out on Friday... more

Postal strike to commence this week
A nationwide postal strike is due to take place on Thursday and Friday this week after talks between the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) and Royal Mail broke down. Small business bodies have urged the two sides to come to an agreement to avoid the disruption that will occur and the Prime Minster, Gordon Brown has said that any strike would be "counter-productive". On Thursday, mail centre... more

Small businesses urged to export
More small businesses are exporting products due to the falling value of the pound. The competitive exchange rate has sparked an interest in exporting, with Business Link's online UK Trade Tariff tool having received record 30,000 visits last month. "Now is the perfect time for enterprising UK technology businesses, especially start-ups and small businesses, to look abroad at the myriad oppo... more