Economists raise fears over Rishi Sunak’s new job support plan September 24, 2020 Economists this afternoon raised concerns that Rishi Sunak’s new support measures could lead to many workers losing their jobs as they do not encourage firms to keep employees on. The centrepiece of the chancellor’s scheme is a new “Job Support Scheme”, which will replace the existing furlough initiative. Under the plan, the government will support [...]
Extending the lockdown could have deadly consequences March 29, 2020 A week into what began as a three-week lockdown, the goalposts have been moved. Government ministers and health officials spent the weekend recalibrating expectations, making it clear that people must be prepared for these unprecedented measures to last into June, perhaps longer. The message from the government is that the measures cannot be lifted until [...]
UK firms cut more than 106,000 jobs amid coronavirus pandemic August 19, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has battered the UK economy since it arrived in early 2020 – and no sector has remained unscathed, with more than 100,000 job cuts planned during the pandemic. The government’s furlough scheme has allowed millions of people to keep getting a paycheck, but fears are growing that when this is phased out [...]
BBC reaches record global audience in 2020 despite cash crunch July 23, 2020 The BBC reached its highest ever audience in 2020, the broadcaster announced today, as it faces the most serious financial difficulty in its 97-year history amid the coronavirus pandemic. The public service broadcaster announced it reached 468.2m people a week in 2020, with BBC News scooping up the bulk of the share with 438.3m weekly [...]
To avert an unemployment crisis, the government must act now and equip workers for the post-pandemic world July 7, 2020 Tomorrow, the chancellor will rise to make his economic statement with the country teetering on the edge of the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression. Around 10 million people face the possibility of losing their jobs. Clearly not all of them will, but as the furlough scheme unwinds, half of businesses say they expect [...]
Counting the human cost of Covid — and of leaving small business owners behind July 23, 2020 The daily lists of cases, tests and R numbers tell a tale of the scale of the Covid-19 crisis, but they don’t always explain the full story of the cost on people’s lives. ACCA and the Corporate Finance Network (CFN) are running a tracker poll among accountancy firms representing more than 22,000 small businesses to [...]
Protokol launches to lower the barriers to entry for enterprise blockchain adoption September 23, 2020 Following Crypto AM’s piece on new enterprise blockchain provider Protokol last month, the business is fully launching to the enterprise market today. Protokol creates and delivers tailored blockchain solutions that solve real business challenges quickly and effectively, enabling enterprises from a range of different industries to enhance their digital transformation strategies and open up new [...]
Dixons Carphone kills dividend as mobile pushes it to loss July 15, 2020 Dixons Carphone has cancelled its dividend as poor mobile sales during lockdown pushed it to another annual loss, prompting its share price to sink today. Shares sank 7.8 per cent in early trading as a jump in online sales failed to offset a 20 per cent plunge in mobile sales during lockdown. The figures Dixons [...]
BoE’s Bailey: Jobs data could scupper UK economy’s coronavirus recovery June 18, 2020 The UK economy is recovering slightly quicker than the Bank of England expected a month ago as the coronavirus lockdown is eased, but news from the labour market is mostly negative, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said. “As partial lifting of the measures takes place, we see signs of some activity returning,” Bailey said [...]
CBILs failings are leading us to catastrophe May 26, 2020 Ranald Macdonald is a restaurateur and Managing Director of Boisdale Group The UK is sleepwalking into a financial disaster of biblical proportions that will exacerbate the economic effects of Covid many times over. Other leading nations, like Germany, the US and France, will avoid this calamity as they have been far more successful in ensuring [...]