Credit, collections & insolvency news
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%.…
Read more
The EY ITEM Club has revised its GDP growth expectations for 2024 down slightly from 1.1% in July’s Summer Forecast to 0.9%. UK GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 1.5% in 2025, although this is lower than the 2% forecast in July. The downgrade reflects that household savings are now lower than initially thought three…
Read more
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned that the UK economy is set to grow at a slower pace, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to decline to 0.4% in the third quarter and 0.2% in the final quarter of the year. The BCC expects the UK economy to grow by 1.1% for 2024,…
Read more
Research by BDO found that. the UK economy showed signs of growth in July following a boost in manufacturing production and the start of the summer tourism season, which likely contributed to an increase in headcount across the services sector. The analysis showed that despite prevailing challenges including elevated input prices and persistent tightness in…
Read more
The percentage of small business owners predicting growth has hit its highest level for more than two years, after a period of slow decline since the start of 2022 according to research commissioned by Novuna Business Finance. The research showed that during the fortnight immediately after the General Election, 35% of UK small business owners…
Read more
The Labour party will likely have a majority vote to win the General Election. Responding to the news Policy Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Tina McKenzie, said “Congratulations to the new Prime Minister and Government on their decisive election victory, and congratulations to the newly elected MPs from all parties. “The clear result…
Read more
More parts of the economy grew in May than at any time in the last 15 months according to the latest Lloyds Bank UK Sector Tracker. While the overall rate of output growth across the economy slowed marginally in May (53.0 vs. 54.1 in April), 11 out of the 14 UK sectors monitored by the…
Read more
Latest economic ONS data has shown that growth was flat, with GDP unchanged between March and April. GDP showed no month-on-month growth following a 0.4 per cent rise in March The data reflects modest growth in April, offset by weakness in both Production and Construction. Services output rose 0.2% month-on-month whilst Construction output fell 1.4…
Read more
The UK’s middle-of-the-pack record on economic growth since 2010 has been flattered by the population growing by six million people. But Britain will need to turnaround its dire productivity record and leverage its services strengths if it wants raise growth and boost living standards in the 2020s, according to new research By the Resolution Foundation.…
Read more
Small business confidence made a welcome return to positive territory for the first time in two years, the first evidence that the small business community has now come out of the late 2023 recession, according to FSB’s Small Business Index (SBI) for Q1 2024. The headline confidence reading jumped up over 20 points to reach…
Read more
The British economy is expected to remain subdued this year due to the Bank of England delaying interest rate cuts in the face of stubborn inflation according to a repott by the EY Item Club. The report now expects GDP growth of 2% in 2025, up from 1.8% in January’s Winter Forecast. However, the growth forecast…
Read more
Latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose 0.1% in February providing another sign of a return to sluggish economic growth this year. Output from the production industry led the economy’s growth, rising by 1.1%, compared to a fall of 0.3% in January. The figures were in line with…
Read more
Latest data from the Institute of Directors (IoD) shows that business confidence in the UK economy took a significant leap forward in March. Bouncing back from the unexpectedly low confidence levels recorded in February, the key indicators suggest business leaders are returning to the more optimistic positions that they held in January. The IoD Directors’…
Read more