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07/09/2026
07/09/2026
New figures show payment delays leave UK SMEs waiting longer for money owed
Cashflow pressures are mounting for Britain’s smaller businesses as a growing proportion of invoices remain unpaid beyond their agreed deadlines, leaving firms waiting longer to access money they are owed. Figures from Sage’s June 2026 SME Performance Pulse, which draws on anonymised information from almost 150,000 businesses, show that 49% of invoices issued by UK […]
07/09/2026
Pennycook confirms development of ‘construction jobs plan’ aimed at tackling workforce shortages in the sector
The minister for housing and planning has confirmed the government’s plan to publish a ‘comprehensive package of support’ to address workforce shortages across the construction industry. The ‘Construction Jobs Plan’ is expected to be announced later this year, with Pennycook highlighting the impact of Brexit and the reduction of the EU labour force on the […]
07/09/2026
CBI responds to chancellor’s September growth speech
Louise Hellem, CBI chief economist, said: “Business will welcome the chancellor’s clear commitment to use every lever of the state – in partnership with business – to deliver the step change in growth the UK urgently needs. “The chancellor is right that growth is not an abstract prize: it is the route to putting the […]
07/09/2026
DNA Payments partners with iwoca to deliver new funding options that empower UK SME growth
DNA Payments, one of the UK’s largest independent payment companies, has expanded its merchant funding offering through a new partnership with one of Europe’s largest SME lenders, iwoca. Through this partnership, DNA Payments’ clients can now easily apply for an iwoca Flexi Loan of between £1,000 and £1m, directly from their Merchant Portal and App. The […]
07/09/2026
Healey’s first speech – comment on markets’ wait-and-see reaction
Following chancellor Healey’s first speech today, Antonio Ruggiero, FX strategist at Convera, has shared the comment: “Markets are proving difficult to read after chancellor Healey’s first major speech, with investors simultaneously grappling with another bond selloff as oil edges towards $100 a barrel. Sterling is little changed. Healey stressed his determination to restore the UK’s […]
07/09/2026
September could bring Britain’s worst manufacturing apprenticeship intake in a decade
Competition for technical and degree apprenticeships is surging, but Yorkshire-based steelwork manufacturer Tadweld is warning that the growing demand for technical careers is being met with a shrinking number of opportunities in manufacturing. Recent figures reported by the BBC show applications for degree apprenticeships through the government’s central platform have risen from 8,100 to 21,800 in just […]
07/09/2026
Cashback now a deciding factor in choosing finance software, new research shows
Cashback and reward schemes have moved from a nice-to-have into a deciding factor in how finance leaders choose their software. According to new independent research commissioned by ExpenseIn, 85.3% of finance leaders across the UK and Ireland expect cashback or reward schemes to influence their choice of financial software or expense provider over the next 12 […]
07/09/2026
Heatwave drives up utility costs for hoteliers in July
Hotel demand held up over the summer, but consumers trying to keep cool during the heatwave pushed up utility costs and ate into profit margins, according to the RSM UK Hotels Tracker. The data, which is compiled and produced by Hotstats and analysed by RSM UK, shows utilities expenses per occupied room of UK hotels […]
07/09/2026
Anthropic’s retail AI push: who owns the customer relationship?
Chris Jones, managing director at PSE Consulting said:“Anthropic giving retailers the tools to build their own shopping agents marks another step towards AI becoming embedded in the transaction journey. Following ChatGPT’s move into agentic commerce, Anthropic is now putting the technology directly into retailers’ hands, allowing them to build agents that can recommend products, assemble […]