Covid support fraud sees director prosecutions jump

2nd November 2021 Business Lending | #business fraud

New research from Mazars has shown that prosecutions of company directors for fraud tripled over the past year amid a crackdown on coronavirus loan scams, with 122 company directors convicted of crimes during the year to the end of September — a rise from 40 during the previous 12 months. The total points to a…

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Half of water customers unaware of extra help

2nd November 2021 Consumer Collections | #utilities

Consumers most in need of help could be missing out on essential extra support from their water company, despite record demand sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic according to the latest assessment by CCW, which ranks water companies according to their performance on a range of important measures, including customer satisfaction, service failures and complaints handling.…

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Ofgem announces price cap review as Bluegreen Energy becomes the latest energy supplier to go bust

2nd November 2021 Business | #utilities

A review of the methodology for setting the energy price cap has been announced by Ofgem following the unprecedented rise in wholesale costs in recent months. In a letter to the industry, the regulator’s chief executive Jonathan Brearley also revealed plans to facilitate faster payments to suppliers of last resort and pause all new applications…

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SMEs turn to Recovery Loan Scheme as they focus on growth

New research by iwoca’s has found that SMEs are turning to the Recovery Loan Scheme as they focus on company growth. The company’s Index reveals that over a third (35%) of brokers reported the top motivator for applying for unsecured finance was to ‘grow the business’ – a 12 percentage point increase from the previous…

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Coronavirus support measures reduced debt advice numbers

2nd November 2021 Arrears and Recoveries | #debt advice

Coronavirus support measures reduced the number of customers seeking debt advice, but caused an increasing rise in existing debt solution customers needing support according to new figures from the Financial Wellness Group’s Impact Report, The report showed that the average debt of new advice customers rose to £17,900 with an increasing proportion of customers having…

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Shop closure rate stabilises

2nd November 2021 Business | #business insolvencies

Latest figures from the British Retail Consortium have shown that shop vacancy rates have stabilised after rising for three years The figures indicate that the rate was 14.5% in the third quarter, the same as the second. While no UK regions saw an increase, the vacancy rate is still at a record high. The proportion…

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