Business

Clear and reliable communication sits at the heart of every successful small business. Customers expect calls to be answered promptly, enquiries to be handled professionally, and appointments to be managed without friction. For many business owners, meeting these expectations while keeping overheads under control can feel like a constant challenge. Staffing costs, limited availability, and growing customer demands all place pressure on already stretched teams. As businesses grow, communication systems often struggle to keep pace....

The manufacturing trade body Made in Britain has raised concerns over the alleged unauthorised use of a logo closely resembling its own by Reform UK. In a statement, Made in Britain said it had become aware that Reform UK was using a logo it believes to be “substantially similar” to its registered mark across marketing materials and merchandise. The organisation stressed that no authorisation, licence or consent had been granted for such use. Made in...

Thousands of taxpayers chose to spend part of their Christmas break tackling their tax affairs, with more than 4,600 people filing their Self Assessment returns on Christmas Day alone, new figures show. Data released by HM Revenue and Customs reveals that 37,435 people submitted their returns between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, suggesting that for a growing number of taxpayers, festive filing is becoming a seasonal habit. Christmas Eve proved the busiest of the three...

A new government scheme aimed at tackling long-term workplace sickness has been dismissed by business leaders and advisers as woefully inadequate, with critics warning it amounts to “emptying the ocean with a teaspoon”. The initiative, announced this morning by the Department for Work and Pensions, will fund occupational health training for 5,000 line managers working in small and medium-sized enterprises across England. The free training, delivered by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, will...

The founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, is among a group of Silicon Valley investors helping to bankroll Labour’s digital push against Reform UK on TikTok, raising fresh questions about the growing role of social media influencers in British politics. Labour has appointed FourOneOne, a digital marketing agency set up by figures behind the party’s 2024 general election campaign, to provide MPs with social media training and access to influencers. The firm has been tasked with...

The City of London is preparing to channel significantly more capital into defence as rising geopolitical tensions, and the growing threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, force a rethink of long-held investment priorities. Almost two-thirds of senior financial services leaders expect spending on Britain’s military capabilities to increase over the next year, according to new research from KPMG. More than a quarter of respondents believe defence investment will rise “much more” in the next 12...

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is once again fighting for survival at Ineos, as the industrial giant grapples with an £18bn debt mountain and an increasingly hostile debt market. Nervous bondholders have begun dumping Ineos debt at distressed prices amid a deep downturn in the global chemicals industry, opening the door for aggressive Wall Street hedge funds that specialise in exploiting corporate distress. Around £5bn of Ineos borrowings are now trading at levels that suggest investors are...

Hairdressers and barbers are joining pub landlords in banning Labour MPs from their premises, as anger intensifies across the high street over business rates, rising employment costs and what some owners describe as a “betrayal” by the government. Signs reading “No Labour MPs” have begun appearing in salon windows and barbershops, echoing a protest that has already seen more than 1,000 pubs bar parliamentarians from Keir Starmer’s party. The move follows widespread frustration with the...

A £5 billion tax raid on salary sacrifice pension schemes announced in Rachel Reeves’s Budget has emerged as the single most damaging policy for business confidence, according to new research from the Confederation of British Industry. Almost three-quarters (73%) of companies surveyed by the CBI said the move to levy national insurance contributions on pension salary sacrifice above a new cap was the most harmful measure in the Budget, warning it risks deterring workers from...

There’s a particular sound that stays with you once you’ve lived in the English countryside. Not birdsong, that’s too obvious, but the deeper rhythm of things: the tractor coughing into life at dawn, Chameau boots crunching on gravel, the hooves of the horses going out for a hack, the soft murmur of a village pub where everyone knows exactly why you’re there even if they’ve never seen you before. I had a house in rural...