Business News Articles

Insurance payment protection crackdown proposed
The Competition Commission has launched a campaign to stop the sale of payment protection insurance within 14 days of customers taking out a loan. The schemes are designed to ensure customers can pay meet repayments even if they are made redundant or become ill but many providers have been fined for mis-selling the products. ... more

Nationwide warns of further house price fall in 2009
The UK’s biggest mortgage lender has said it expects house prices to continue to fall during the coming year. But the Nationwide also said the recent cuts in the interest base rate would minimise the number of people who were unable to afford mortgage payments and ease the burden for those coming off existing fixed-rate deals. ... more

Late filing of accounts rises 25%
An increasing number of British companies are struggling to meet deadlines for filing accounts to Companies House. Late filings have increased by 25% over the last four years and a total of 238,699 British companies filed their accounts late last year as businesses struggle to balance their books. The late filing of accounts can have severe ramifications on a business, especially in the curr... more

SME workers take less sick leave than staff at large firms
Employees in small businesses are less likely to take time off work sick than workers in larger organisations, according to research published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Workplaces with fewer than 25 employees had a sickness rate of 2.3%, compared with a 2.8% rate of companies that employed more than 500 workers. “The difference between small and large employers can be ex... more

Barrel of oil drops to lowest price in 20 months
Oil prices have fallen to less than $60 a barrel, the lowest price for over 20 months. This fall will further reduce inflationary pressures following the Bank of England and other Central bank's decisions to cut interest rates. Small businesses will hope that this decrease is passed onto consumers by lower energy bills and petrol prices at forecourts. The price of a barrel of oil has decr... more

Firms can receive tax exemption for Christmas party
Small companies that are considering cancelling their Christmas party to cut costs are being advised that if certain criteria are met then the party can be exempt from tax. In order for the seasonal party to qualify for the exemption certain criteria must be met. The party must be open to all staff, each employee must be allowed to bring a guest and no more than £150 can be spent on each em... more

SMEs missing out on government contracts
Small businesses bidding for government contracts are still being affected by the three-year accounts rule - despite its abolition seven years ago. The Government has advised SMEs that are rejected for contracts with local councils and other public sector agencies because they lack the three years of accounts to complain directly to Whitehall. The three year accountancy rule was scrapped in ... more

UK unemployment hits 11-year high of 1.82m
Unemployment in the UK has reached an 11-year high, with the number of people out of work rising by 140,000 to 1.82m. According to official figures released today, in the three months to September the unemployment rate rose to 5.8%, an increase of 0.4% from the previous quarter. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by over 36,000 to 980,900 in October - the highest monthl... more

Government to monitor SME lending
The government has announced plans to create a new panel to monitor the extent to which banks are lending money to small firms. At the first meeting of the Small Business Finance Forum, the five main high street banks agreed to provide data on the availability, risk and cost of finance to small companies. ... more

Retail sales show yearly fall
UK retail sales fell by 0.1% over the past 12 months, figures from the British Retail Consortium revealed. Total sales in October were down 0.1% on the figure for the same month in 2007 – the first yearly drop since April 2005 – while like-for-like sales, which do not include new outlets, fell by 2.2%. ... more