Recent news headlines relating to UK businesses, entrepreneurs, and sole traders.
Bosses are pleading for the opportunity to trade out of trouble as they fear another month of curbs will hit sales by £3bn. Amid rising expectations that the Prime Minister will delay the ending of Covid-19 restrictions later this month, pub and tourism bosses representing more than 150,000 workers have issued a desperate plea for … Read more
Vulnerable consumers claim to have been ‘bullied and criminalised’ by HMRC after losing their pensions. Victims of pension scams have been pushed to their limits after losing their life savings and then being pursued by HM Revenue and Customs for substantial tax bills. The taxman has been described as implacable and relentless, charging people hundreds … Read more
New rules designed to protect those who remain with the same insurers will hit consumers who shop around for insurance, the City watchdog has warned. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says a decision to ban the so-called loyalty penalty will save customers a total of £4.2bn over the next decade, but will increase costs for … Read more
If you have bought new clothes, filled the car’s fuel tank or treated yourself to a beer recently, you’ll know what economists confirmed on Wednesday. The price of goods and services, also known as inflation, is rising rapidly. The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), more than doubled last … Read more
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs no longer uses debt collectors, instead its systems take money straight out of your earnings and pension income. The taxman is using special powers to recover unpaid bills directly from wage packets and pensions because the pandemic has made it impossible to deal with rising numbers of tax debtors in … Read more
So-called green energy plans supply a third of British homes but the great majority of tariffs may not be as green as their customers believe. Many energy customers on ‘green’ tariffs are unknowingly paying for power from non-renewable sources. A third of British homes are supplied by green energy plans, leading customers to believe their … Read more
Why it is crucial that the new online safety bill to be presented to parliament next week includes criminal activity such as fraud, scams and con adverts. Scams are sadly a daily hazard of modern life: the email about a puzzling DHL parcel that couldn’t be delivered; the text message from HMRC concerning a Covid-19 … Read more
A group of charities has sounded a warning over the increasing use of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platforms to buy goods. Citizens Advice (CA), a network of legal, financial and consumer groups, has said many users are getting into debt and finding it difficult to buy food and pay bills. BNPL is especially popular in some high … Read more
Just under half of all the UK’s high street banks could close by the end of the year, prompting calls to turn empty branches into hubs shared by banks. Even though 81pc believe that trust is the ‘most important factor in their purchasing journey’, 76pc say they lack confidence in using their banking services online, … Read more
The UK’s largest lenders are preparing to collect billions of pounds in repayments of emergency loans amid rising concerns that firms could be strongarmed into making repayments. While banks are busy assigning hundreds of employees to be the driving force behind the recovery efforts, bosses have conducted regular talks with the Treasury to finalise plans. … Read more