Business News Articles

Employment law to be tightened for non-EU workers
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said that the UK’s immigration laws will be tightened further as the government comes under pressure due to the mounting number of UK workers unemployed. The government are planning to make the current points –based system more stringent to limit the amount of migrant workers in the UK. From April this year non-EU workers seeking skilled jobs will require a m... more

Mandelson claims £40m lent through Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme
Business secretary Lord Mandelson has claimed that the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme has loaned more than £40m to small businesses in the UK. The loan scheme has come under criticism, with many small companies complaining that they are not able to access the funds through their bank. Recent analysis from the Financial Times suggested that the amount of money loaned only stands at arou... more

Government must 'promote benefits of apprenticeships to business'
UK employers are supportive of apprenticeships but believe that the government must do more to publicise and support them, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Of the 800 firms questioned in the survey - many of them small and medium-sized companies - 78% believe that the government is right to introduce new targets and 75% responded that they ... more

New video and website from HMRC offers small firms free tax advice
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched a new series of online video guides for new and small companies. The series of ten videos will provide help on guidance on a range of tax issues from what to do when first setting up a new business, income tax for the self-employed, corporation tax and VAT. A website is being launched to accompany the videos, which will be hosted by TV presenter Dab S... more

Staff ‘waste an hour a day’ on emails
UK business workers waste an average of one hour a day sending and receiving emails, according to a poll by Expert Messaging. The survey of over 4,000 employees found that the majority did not filter or organise their email accounts efficiently and that many of the emails received at work were not relevant and did not help staff do their jobs. For small firms with a limited number of staff e... more

Travelodge offering credit to attract business travellers
Budget hotel chain Travelodge is launching a business account card in an attempt to attract more business as many small firms look to cut-back on their travel expenses during the recession. The card will offer businesses up to eight weeks credit as the chain aims to double its amount of corporate clients by the end of the year "An easy way for any business to cut costs is to stop paying a sm... more

BMI axe routes and reduces capacity
BMI British Midland has announced that it is cutting two of its mainline services from Heathrow and Leeds Bradford and Durham Tees Valley, reducing the number of daily flights from these airports by seven. BMI, the second largest airline operating from Heathrow airport, will also reduce the number of daily services from Heathrow to Dublin and Amsterdam and will use small planes, thus cutting ca... more

Over 40,000 home repossessions in 2008
The number of homes in the UK repossessed by lenders last year increased by 54% to 40,000, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). With cash-flow tight many small business owners have been forced to re-mortgage their homes to keep their business afloat. The CML have urged any home owners who are struggling to maintain payments to contact their lender as early ... more

New scheme to provide entrepreneurs with valuable experience
UK Entrepreneurs have the opportunity of increasing their business experience and knowledge by spending six months working with an established businessperson in Europe. Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs will give 800 entrepreneurs the chance to be placed alongside a successful businessperson across all 27 European Union member states. The new exchange programme is financed by the European Unio... more

Free IT conference for small businesses
A free IT conference for small businesses with seminars from Dell, Microsoft and Samsung is to be hosted in London on the 24th of February. The national event will take place at the Vinopolis wine museum and runs from 10:00am till 4:00pm. The event is hosted by Equanet and will inform small business owners how they can reduce their IT costs. Recent research by Equanet has found that over 40%... more