Business

In today’s job market, employers want more than enthusiasm. They want professionals who can analyse data, manage teams, and deliver results. Postgraduate study can build those career-ready skills, preparing individuals for leadership and specialist roles in industries ranging from healthcare to technology. Institutions like the Walbrook Institute London reflect this change. Their postgraduate pathways go beyond classroom knowledge. They are designed to help individuals build the practical skills needed for today’s professional environments, where careers...

UK unemployment has risen to its highest level since the 2021 lockdown, while wage growth has cooled to its weakest pace in more than three years, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures, released on Tuesday, show the unemployment rate increased to 4.8% in the three months to August, up from 4.7% in the previous quarter — the highest reading since the three months to May 2021. A...

The UK economy is losing as much as £3.5 billion a year as tens of thousands of women leave the technology sector amid stalled career progression, unequal pay and weak leadership pipelines, according to a new landmark report released to mark Ada Lovelace Day. The 2025 Lovelace Report: Unlocking £2–3.5 Billion, published on Tuesday, reveals that between 40,000 and 60,000 women are quitting the industry annually — an exodus that experts warn is undermining the...

Retail sales growth cooled sharply last month as households tightened budgets ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s November Budget and heavy storms kept shoppers off the high street. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG show retail sales rose 2.3% year on year in the five weeks to October 4, down from 3.1% in the previous period. Although still above the 12-month average of 2.1%, the slowdown underscores weakening consumer confidence heading into the...

Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, is deepening his commitment to Britain’s innovation economy with an additional £890 million investment in the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), dramatically expanding its footprint at Oxford Science Park. The move comes as the 81-year-old tycoon faces scrutiny over the institute’s leadership and direction following a year of internal upheaval. Yet the fresh capital injection underlines Ellison’s determination to anchor a world-leading hub for AI, health, and climate...

Retail technology platform Patchworks has secured £5 million in new funding to accelerate its expansion into the United States and scale its next generation of AI-powered integration tools for enterprise retailers. The round, led by existing backer Gresham House Ventures with growth lending from Palatine Growth Credit, comes as the company reports a 41 per cent year-on-year increase in annual recurring revenue and deepening adoption across ecommerce and omnichannel retail. The latest investment will be...

The Open University (OU) has joined forces with NatWest and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to relaunch the Open Business Creators Fund, a nationwide initiative offering early-stage women entrepreneurs financial support, mentoring, and access to training resources. Launched in a video message by Baroness Martha Lane Fox, Chancellor of The Open University, the competition offers individual grants of up to £2,500, backed by £50,000 in sponsorship from NatWest. The fund is open to...

VRFY Solutions Group UK, an AI-driven transcription and data intelligence platform founded by two veteran police officers, has secured £200,000 in pre-seed investment led by Fuel Ventures. The funding will accelerate adoption of the company’s secure AI transcription solution within UK police forces and lay the groundwork for expansion into other critical sectors, including healthcare and the NHS. VRFY’s technology addresses a growing crisis in UK policing — the combination of rising workloads, officer shortages,...

A new €10 million (£8.6 million) initiative will accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in British science, business, and public services, marking a major collaboration between the UK and the European Union. The University of Edinburgh’s EPCC, home to the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre, has been awarded joint EU and UK Government funding to establish the UK AI Factory Antenna (UKAIFA) — part of a pan-European network designed to foster innovation, research, and...

The UK head of Fujitsu Services Limited, the company behind the Post Office’s disastrous Horizon IT system, has received a 50% pay rise — despite the firm still refusing to quantify compensation for hundreds of wrongly convicted sub-postmasters. The Japan-owned technology giant handed its best-paid UK executive — believed to be Anwen Owen, Fujitsu’s UK chief — £591,000 in total pay for the year to March 2025, up from £388,000 the previous year. Corporate filings...