Business News Articles

Absence: firms must do more
Businesses should do more to tackle the amount of time staff take off work sick, which costs the UK economy £100bn a year, according to a report by a government adviser. Dame Carol Black’s report called for employers to do more to promote workplace health by promoting a healthy lifestyle and offering subsidised gym membership schemes and access to occupational health systems. ... more

Bosses warned on staff cars
Businesses that allow staff to use their own cars for work purposes could soon face a corporate manslaughter charge if that vehicle is illegal, a fleet consultant has warned. A survey by FleetConsult found that many employers allowed staff to drive in vehicles that were unroadworthy or not insured for business use. ... more

Terminal 5 officially opened
Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 has been officially opened by the Queen, marking the beginning of the end of a construction project that began in September 2002. The terminal will open for business on March 27th and will provide extra passenger capacity for travellers, although the amount of flights coming in and out of the airport will not increase. ... more

Help for north-east start-ups
Entrepreneurs looking to start up a business in the north-east of England should benefit from a new service that aims to install an entrepreneurial culture in the region. The ‘If we can, you can’ campaign is being driven by the Entrepreneurs Forum and funded by the regional development agency One NorthEast. ... more

Budget encourages green vehicles
The 2008 Budget and the King review into the impact of road transport on carbon emissions should represent the start of a “cohesive environmental strategy”, according to GE Capital Solutions, Fleet Services. The government has set an emissions figure of 130g per kilometre as its target for fleets and moved to encourage this with its 2009-10 first year vehicle excise duty rates and the 2010... more

Dragon launches enterprise academy
Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Peter Jones has won backing from prime minister Gordon Brown for his national academy for teenage entrepreneurs. The first National Enterprise Academy will open in 2009, teaching 200 16-19-year-olds the basics of running a business. They will be taught by experienced entrepreneurs rather than teachers. ... more

Pay gap widens with children
Women who have children could be paid as much as 20% less than their male counterparts, according to the TUC. The organisation claims the gender pay gap more than trebles once women reach the age of 30, with general secretary Brendan Barber describing this as “an unacceptable penalty simply for having children”. ... more

Pension deficit as high as 2003
The deficit in UK company pension schemes is now at the highest level since June 2003, according to the Pension Protection Fund. The organisation’s figures suggest the deficit rose from £81bn to £98bn in February, with a fall in the return on government bonds blamed for the rise. ... more

Tories call for tax rejig
The Conservative Party has urged the government to scrap the planned 2% rise in the rate of corporation tax for smaller businesses and called for a further cut in the main rate of corporation tax. Corporation tax is set to fall from 30% to 28% in April but the rate companies with annual profits of less than £1.5m pay is to rise 2p to 22p in the pound. ... more

High-speed rail lines proposal
The government is considering a proposal from engineering consultancy Atkins which would see the construction of a 187mph high-speed railway line. The plans for the east and west coast mainlines would see journey times greatly reduced, with a trip from London to Manchester taking just 74 minutes. ... more