Business News Articles

BA union say ‘no strike over Easter’
The threat of British Airways strike action over the Easter holidays appears to have dissipated after the Unite union said it had no plan to strike over this period. Len McCluskey of Unite said no action would occur over Easter and he wanted "families to be able to plan their travel arrangements in confidence." The Unite union announced a new strike ballot earlier this week, which raised the... more

Unemployment falls to 2.46m
The amount of people unemployed in the UK has dropped for the first time in 18 months to 2.46m, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). For the three months to November the jobless total fell by 7,000 from the previous quarter, meaning that the rate of unemployment now stands at 7.8%, down from the 7.9%. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell to 1.61m and the ... more

Inflation rises to 2.9%
Inflation in the UK has risen at its fastest annual pace for nine months with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) reaching 2.9% in December, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is the biggest ever monthly rise in the annual index since records began and takes the annual rate of CPI - the measure of the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households - to 2.9% ... more

BA staff to vote on further strike action
British Airways cabin crew have announced that they will vote again on possible strike action. The Unite union have said that a ballot of its members will be held after recent talks with BA failed to find a resolution to the long-running dispute. The union had planned to strike for 12 days over the Christmas period but problems with the ballot led to the High Court blocking the strike from g... more

Red tape will ‘cost firms £25bn’
Red tape and taxes could cost businesses in the UK £25bn over the next four years, according to data released by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). The BCC has warned that job creation will suffer because of a blizzard of new red tape and taxes due to be implemented by 2014. Eight major employment-related changes are to taker place next year, including the rising of employee national i... more

Government paying SME invoices late
Over 60% of small and medium-sized businesses are waiting over 30 days for government invoices to be paid, according to new research from credit reference agency Graydon UK. The data also revealed that 98% of those SMEs questioned that supply government agencies, local government bodies and central government reported that they are still not being paid within the ten day timeframe pledged by Lo... more

Poor customer service costing firms £3bn
Small business owners have been reminded about the importance of customer care with new data released by Oxford Brookes University showing that poor customer service has cost businesses over £3.3bn in the last two years alone. Substandard treatment has seen companies lose up to 20 million customers in the last two years as around 75% of consumers switched at least one product or service suppli... more

80% of SMEs: sales will rise or stabilise
Eight out of ten small businesses expect to maintain or increase sales turnover in the first half of this year, according to data released by QBE, the specialist business insurer. This is an increase from the 57% of small companies that had this expectation a year ago. However, the survey from QBE also revealed that 21%, of SMEs say they would find it difficult to survive if current economic co... more

Industrial output rises
Industrial production in the UK increased by 0.4% in November compared with the previous month, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics. This is more than the 0.3% rise that economists had been expecting and gives weight to those that believe the country exited recession in the last quarter of 2009. However, manufacturing output showed no growth and six of the 13 manufa... more

Car sales boosted by scrappage scheme
Almost 290,000 cars have been sold through the government's car scrappage scheme, according to data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT). The SMMT have revealed that 284,479 new cars were registered through the scrappage scheme between May and December last year. The scheme accounted for over a fifth of all new car registrations in December. "The scrappage scheme has helped ... more