Business News Articles

House prices fall just 0.4% but markets still vulnerable
House prices fell by just 0.4% in November but the housing market is still in a perilous state, according to Nationwide. The fall contrasts favourably to a 1.3% fall in October and took the annual fall from 14.6% to 13.9%. ... more

School business lessons ‘boring’
Business lessons in UK schools are boring and involve students being talked at rather than gaining real life experience, according to an Ofsted study. In half of the 118 schools surveyed pupils complained they were not able to try out their business ideas in business situations or able to gain work experience with companies. ... more

New 'fit note' scheme aims to keep staff in employment
Fewer staff could be signed off work under new government plans to implement ‘fit notes' that would inform employers what jobs sick employees can still perform. The scheme will replace the traditional sick notes and aims to reduce the number of people who move from sick benefits to incapacity benefit. More than 500 GPs are currently using the scheme and it is planned to go national by 2010... more

Leeds Financial Services Initiative announce new chief executive
Leeds Financial Services Initiative (LFSI) has appointed Howard Kew as chief executive to lead a three year programme channelling over £3m of public and private sector funding into supporting and developing the financial services sector of the Leeds city region. Howard Kew, who has held a number of senior positions at Norwich Union, takes over the role of LFSI chief executive on a full time ba... more

Insuring against government riskier than banks, according to Libor
The cost of insuring against the government defaulting on its gilts in the next five years briefly rose to a higher level than banks defaulting on debts in the Libor rate. The cost of insuring against the government reached 100 Libor points, before falling back to 88.2 basis points. Insuring against leading banks failing to pay back their debts stands at 95 points for Lloyds TSB and 99 point... more

VAT cuts may add to small firms tax burden
The one-year VAT cut from 17.5% to 15% is unlikely to help small businesses, with many SMEs facing higher tax burdens. The removal of 25p in the pound in Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report is deigned to stimulate growth and business in the economy. However, businesses taking advantage of the flat rate VAT scheme face a shortfall after their VAT rates fell by less than the reduction in the ... more

80% will spend less this Christmas
The majority of people say they will spend less this Christmas than they did last year as the economic downturn threatens to dampen the busiest time of the year for retailers. A survey by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) found that 80% planned to spend less, with women more likely to rein in spending than men. ... more

Small firms helped in pre-Budget report
Small businesses have welcomed the measures announced in the pre-Budget report designed to help them cope with the economic downturn. ... more

Online fraud industry worth £3.35bn
Online fraudsters have access to £3.35bn, a year-long investigation by Symantec has revealed. The survey came up with the figure by multiplying the average fraud figure per card (£234) by the number of cards they estimated were available. ... more

New Google search will affect small companies
Google have announced the launch of SearchWiki - one of the most significant innovations in how the search engine giant operates. The new system allows customer feedback on search results - meaning that results can be voted up or down by Google users. With a recent survey showing that an increasing number of small firms are advertising via an online platform, it is expected that companies wi... more