Free management course for SMEs

The government has launched the new Help to Grow: Management Essentials course; a short online course with practical tips and resources for small business leaders.

It is based on the 12-week Help to

COVID Bounce Back abuse

The Insolvency Service has recently published information confirming that a total of 831 company directors were banned in 2023-24 for Covid support scheme abuse, up more than 80% on the previous year,

Settling energy disputes

Business owners that are in dispute with their energy suppliers will be interested in the free support on offer from the Energy Ombudsman.

In a recent press release the Department for Energy Security

What do we mean by profit?

When most business owners refer to business profits, they are likely to mean the difference between sales and costs, and more concisely, that sales exceed costs.

However, the word

To register or not to register

In the recent Spring Budget, the VAT registration threshold was raised to £90,000 (previously £85,000) which means that smaller businesses that did not want to register for VAT, now have an additional

Public sector productivity

In a recent announcement by the Treasury, it was announced that plans are afoot to deliver up to £1.8bn of productivity benefits by 2029.

The aim is to improve public sector productivity, including

Companies House rolls-out new powers

The first measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCT Act) came into force on Monday 4 March 2024.

Changes introduced include:

greater powers to query information

Crack down on ‘fire and rehire’ practices

The Government has announced action to tackle the use of controversial ‘fire and rehire’ practices. In a press release issued 19 February 2024 they said:

“Action against unscrupulous employers

A new champion for small businesses appointed

An experienced entrepreneur has taken up a key role to promote the needs of small businesses to government and ensure suppliers seize the benefits of the Procurement Act.

Shirley Cooper OBE, former

Top-line, bottom-line?

Most small business owners are happy, from a financial point of view, if sales are in line with expectations. And there are obvious grounds for this conclusion, after all, if sales dry up there are no