Credit, collections & insolvency news
A decorator has been banned and ordered to pay more than £100,000 in compensation after obtaining three Covid loans. The decorator secured three Covid Bounce Back Loans worth a combined £145,000 has been banned as a company director and ordered to pay compensation. Ruxanda Guja claimed £100,000 more than she was entitled to for her…
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UK business confidence has reached its lowest point in nearly two years, according to the latest Business Trends Report by BDO. The BDO optimism index fell by 5.81 points to 93.49 in November, marking the steepest month-on-month decline since 2021. Firms are grappling with rising costs, reduced customer confidence, and falling orders, leading to a…
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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) says that the Government should step in to provide small firms with personal guarantee protection following from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s investigation into personal guarantees, Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said “The FCA’s investigation was severely undermined even before it got underway…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) grew in October 2024 by 4% compared with the same month in 2023. In the ten months to October 2024, new business was also 4% higher than in the same period in 2023.…
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Energy company, Maxen Power has paid £1.65 million for customer service failures. Maxen Power supplies more than 10,000 non-domestic energy customers. A recent investigation carried out by energy regulator Ofgem found that Maxen Power breached its licence conditions by not having robust systems in place to protect its customers. This allowed third-party reps to sign…
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More than eight in ten (81%) UK small businesses are prioritising new initiatives to boost their overall growth prospects for 2025. Increasing new business sales (43%) and reducing fixed costs (24%) are priority areas business owners want to focus on – but there’s also evidence the recent changes to employers’ National Insurance could significantly impact…
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) expects the UK economy to grow at a slower pace this year than it had previously forecast. However, it has upgraded its growth forecast for next year. The think-tank expects 0.9% growth this year, down from 1.1%, while 2025 is forecast to see growth of 1.7%, up…
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The Government has announced the launch of a new Fair Payment Code aimed at tackling late payments, with research showing that SMEs are on average owed £22,000 a year. It comes on top of an earlier announced consultation which will investigate the scale of the problem and best solutions. The code, overseen by the Small Business…
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Economic uncertainty is on the rise for the UK’s 5.6 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) following the Autumn Budget, according to iwoca’s Q3 2024 SME Expert Index. The percentage of brokers reporting pessimism among their SME clients about the future has more than doubled, rising from 15% last quarter to 34%. Meanwhile, only one…
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The latest Lloyds Business Barometer found that confidence fell in November, with the index dipping three points to 41%. Considerably above the long-term average of 29%, the change followed a period of sustained positivity from businesses, as confidence reached the highest level reported since 2015 during May, July and August this year. The Business Barometer,…
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Business leaders’ confidence in the prospects for the UK economy fell to levels not seen since the pandemic during November, according to analysis by the Institute of Directors (IoD). The institute’s Economic Confidence index fell to -65 in November, down from -52 during October. This marks the fourth consecutive monthly fall and is the second…
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A company director has been given a suspended prison sentence after claiming a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan and then dissolving her business. Irena Tokarczyk from Watford, was the sole director of Good Food Shops Ltd when she applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in June 2020 – the maximum amount allowed under the rules…
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Recent data indicates that households are increasingly anxious about the state of the economy, particularly following Rachel Reeves’s Budget, which has raised concerns about a potential UK recession. The BRC-Opinium tracker shows a decline in consumer confidence, with only 19% of respondents feeling optimistic about the economy in the next three months, down from 21%.…
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