The Government has been warned that the latest Covid restrictions could reduce bookings by 50pc at some entertainment and hospitality venues. As a result of the Government’s new Covid restrictions, theatres face a peak Christmas season with bookings down by as much as 50pc, while restaurants, pubs, theatres and other attractions could suffer mass cancellations. … Read more

Although 64pc of SMEs believe that Brexit has negatively impacted the UK economy, 68pc also think it has had an adverse effect on British society. Furthermore, 25pc said the treaty has directly affected their business, according to new data from cloud accounting provider FreeAgent. The company found that over half of SMEs have experienced shrinking … Read more

As part of new rules to better protect consumers from scams, victims of authorised push payment (APP) financial fraud could soon be guaranteed refunds from their bank. The Payments Systems Regulator (PSR) has issued a consultation paper proposing making it mandatory for banks to reimburse victims of APP scams, in which people are tricked into … Read more

Furloughed workers are still more likely to suffer higher levels of unemployment, but sector shortages are protecting staff from the worst anticipated effects. Staff who were placed on furlough are six times more likely to lose their jobs than other workers, but an assessment of the programme has found that the end of the scheme … Read more

The UK’s independent forecaster has warned that households are set to remain worse off than they were pre-pandemic until 2023. Charlie Bean, a committee member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) told MPs that incomes would not return to 2019 levels for another two years. The main reason, he said, is ‘a very low … Read more