Business News Articles

Sir Alan Sugar taken to employment tribunal
Sir Alan Sugar is being taken to an employment tribunal for alleged sexual discrimination and bullying by a senior female executive at one of the Apprentice star's flagship companies. Hanna Sebright, managing director at Amscreen Healthcare, is taking the government's recently appointed enterprise Tsar to court. Mrs Sebright is also claiming that former Apprentice winner Lee McQueen subjecte... more

BA luggage chaos at Terminal 5
Thousands of passengers at Terminal 5 in Heathrow were left stranded after a mechanical fault on the baggage system meant they were unable to check in their luggage. An estimated 5,000 passengers were unable to board their flights for a period of up to five hours, leading to chaos at Terminal 5, which is operated exclusively by British Airways. A BAA spokesperson apologised for the inconveni... more

Fake CVs sent out by government
The government has sent out hundreds of false job applications in an attempt to undercover racism in business. The Ethnic Minority Taskforce have sent out the false applications and CVs to test whether candidates with ethnic minority names are treated differently from those with traditional British names. The results of the survey, which the British Chamber of Commerce have labelled, "underh... more

Small firms must 'check accountants'
Eight out of ten small businesses owners are unaware if their own accountant is a member of a professional body or not, according to research conducted by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT). In the current economic climate it is even more vital than normal that all small companies ensure that their finances are in order and handled by a member of a professional body. "During suc... more

Business confidence grows in financial sectors
Business confidence in the UK's financial sectors is beginning to return, according to a quarterly survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Just under 30% of firms predicted an increase in business volumes - the largest figure since March 2007 - and 13% of businesses were more upbeat regarding general business prospects than they were in the previous quarter. The quarterly surv... more

Online retail sales to ‘increase £12bn by 2011’
Online sales will help save the UK retail sector during the recession, according to new research from PayPal. The PayPal UK Online Retail Report claims that UK online retail spend will increase by up £12bn by the end of 2011, offsetting the £8bn fall in high street sales that that is predicted to occur by 2011. The online sector is one of the few areas that has continued to grow in the eco... more

Mortgage approvals rise in May
Mortgage approvals by the UK's major banks have continued to rise, according to figures released by the British Bankers' Association (BBA). The BAA revealed that approvals for house purchases numbered 31,162 in May, an increase from April's 29,000 and a 15% rise on the same period in 2008. "Unlike much of the mortgage market, the high street banks are still seeing lending growth. Improved mo... more

Stress is costing UK economy 'more than 1970s strikes’
Stress among UK workers is costing Britain's economy more than the strikes of the 1970s did, according to research conducted by Warwick University. The rising level of employee stress is leading to 13.5m working days being taken off a year, severely damaging the economy through absenteeism and lack of productivity. "Four in ten people on invalidity benefit are off work because of mental illn... more

Flexible working increases in recession
Businesses are changing how they organise their workforce due to the recession, according to new data released by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The CBI study reveals that 45% of employers have increased flexible working among staff, 43% have cut the amount of paid overtime that is available and a third are using less agency staff. "The UK's flexible labour market has proved a ... more

60% of companies ‘freeze staff pay’
60% of businesses in the UK plan to freeze pay or negotiate pay cuts with staff, according to a new employment survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and recruitment group Harvey Nash. The survey of more than 700 companies also revealed that more than half the businesses surveyed expect recruitment levels to take more than a year to return to 2007 levels and 40% revealed they ha... more