UK Export Finance has announced support for two export deals worth a combined £128 million to supply submarine rescue systems to Indonesia. On the surface, that sounds like a specialist defence story with little to…
Higher fruit and vegetable costs are starting to hit cafés, takeaways, pubs, independent grocers and other UK SMEs, as energy, transport and growing costs feed through the fresh produce supply chain.
Rising fuel prices are becoming a real headache for UK small businesses again, especially the firms that feel every extra pound straight away: tradespeople in vans, local delivery operators, mobile services, independent retailers and hospitality…
New tax-year changes aimed at startups and scale-ups are now live, with the government saying a wider package of tax relief reforms could unlock around £100 million a year of extra investment for UK innovators.…
HMRC has refreshed its Making Tax Digital for Income Tax guidance just days before the new rules start on 6 April, which makes this a live issue now for higher-earning sole traders and landlords rather…
Late payment is one of those small-business problems that can quietly turn a decent trading month into a cashflow headache. So a new figure from the Small Business Commissioner is worth noticing: the office says…
UK shoppers are getting more cautious again, and that matters for the smaller firms that rely on everyday discretionary spending. GfK’s Consumer Confidence Barometer fell two points to -21 in March, while expectations for the…
New HMRC trade figures suggest the very smallest UK goods-trading businesses had a much tougher 2024 than larger firms. For businesses with no employees, export trade value fell 26% year on year and import trade…
UK inflation did not get worse in February, but this is not the kind of update most small firms can relax over. The headline Consumer Prices Index stayed at 3.0%, unchanged from January, according to…
For a lot of small firms, switching work vehicles from diesel to electric still feels easier to talk about than to actually do. The running-cost case can look attractive on paper, but the upfront price…