The UK’s struggling high street has shed nearly 170,000 retail jobs this year—the biggest annual toll since pandemic lockdowns in 2020—as shops grapple with higher taxes, surging costs and weakening consumer spending. Figures from Altus Group and the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) reveal a 42 per cent jump in job losses compared with 2023, […]
Leading audit, tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg has warned that eBay sellers and other online traders could face substantial tax demands if they fail to register for self-assessment by year-end. Under the new reporting rules, platforms such as eBay must provide HMRC with details of sellers who use their services in 2024—reports that […]
Labour ministers have thrown their support behind a £15m government scheme to rescue surplus food from UK farms—often thrown away or fed to animals—and distribute it to homeless shelters, food banks and charities, particularly over the festive period. The fund, originally promised by Michael Gove in 2018 and again by Rishi Sunak in 2024, never […]
The UK steel industry is urging the government to commit to buying British steel as part of the country’s planned offshore wind power boom. Wind energy now accounts for almost a third of the UK’s electricity generation, yet less than 2% of the steel used in offshore wind projects during the past five years has […]
Household incomes are likely to stagnate or decline next year, according to new research from the Resolution Foundation, as Britain’s cost-of-living challenges continue. While Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to improve public services, the leading thinktank says this “tax-rise gamble” risks leaving many people worse off in purely financial terms. Researchers at the Resolution Foundation […]
British employees are pushing back against calls to work more frequently in the office, amid complaints of insufficient desks and facilities. A fifth of workers surveyed by Remit Consulting cited a shortage of workspace as one of their top three reasons for staying away. Researchers say this highlights how some firms cut back too far […]
British consumers are opening their wallets more freely in the final run-up to Christmas, with retailers reporting a 2.3 per cent year-on-year rise in spending for the seven weeks to 20 December, according to figures from Visa. Online sales led the increase, up 6.1 per cent, while electronics and homeware purchases enjoyed the most significant […]
London’s iconic black cabs could all but vanish by 2040, warn long-serving cabbies who have seen their ranks thin by a third in the past decade. At the heart of the crisis are mounting pressures to switch to electric vehicles, an ageing workforce reluctant to invest in pricey new taxis, and city-wide “anti-car” measures that […]
Moonpig, the UK’s largest online card retailer, has introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature that aims to recreate the sentiment of a handwritten note—without the need to pick up a pen. Announced this month, the tool allows users to generate a unique digital font based on their own handwriting, which can then be stored […]
At a time when much of the conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) centres on potential job losses, one sector stands poised to harness this technology for good: careers advice. Far from making advisers obsolete, AI could help them provide more personalised, timely, and cost-effective support, ensuring more young people and unemployed adults find fulfilling futures. […]