Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Business confidence stabilised in September after falling for three consecutive months between June and August. The index remains at 16%, its joint lowest level since March 2021, according to the latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer. While business confidence remained below the long-term average of 28%, it is above the lowest levels seen in 2020 during…
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The Consumer Confidence Index from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research has found that confidence among UK consumers has fallen into negative territory for the first time since June 2020. The index fell by 4.2 points in August from 103.0 to 98.8, the largest decline since the early stages of the pandemic.…
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Falling petrol prices have pushed the inflation rate back to 9.9% in August latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown. The consumer prices index has dipped from 10.1% in July to 9.9% last month, with cheaper motoring costs offsetting the impact of expensive food prices, although prices are still continuing to rise at nearly…
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The number of UK sectors reporting greater output increased in June, according to the latest Lloyds Bank UK Sector Tracker. However, businesses across the economy saw weaker demand as inflation dampened customer spending. In June, nine out of the 14 sectors monitored by the Tracker reported activity up, compared to eight in May and 11…
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KPMG’s latest UK Economic Outlook report predicts GDP growth will more than halve to 3.2% this year, from 7.4% in 2021, and fall to 0.7% in 2023. KPMG warned that the invasion of Ukraine and renewed lockdowns in China put upward pressure on commodity prices and keep supply chains under strain, UK GDP growth is…
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High inflation is causing real pay packets to shrink at their fastest rate in a decade, while the slowdown in growth may be causing the tight labour market to cool as unemployment ticks up, the Resolution Foundation said today (Tuesday) in response to the latest ONS labour market statistics. With CPI inflation hitting a 40-year…
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The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s vote to increase the base rate to 1% follows the release of ONS figures showing that 16% of microbusinesses are still not currently fully trading (compared to only 3% of big businesses) meaning that small businesses will be hit harder with a ‘cost of doing business.’ Responding the…
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Retail sales fell unexpectedly by 1.4 per cent last month, as consumers reduced their spending due to the increase in living costs, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS said the fall was largely down to a decrease in demand for online purchases. New retail figures show the amount…
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The number of UK sectors reporting output growth rose in March, according to the latest Lloyds Bank UK Recovery Tracker. However, while UK services businesses benefited from strong demand and a further loosening of Covid-19 restrictions, goods producers were disproportionately affected by the war in Ukraine – leading to the largest gap between manufacturing and…
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The Chancellor delivered a Spring Statement which will reduce fuel duty on petrol and diesel by 5p per litre for the next year and announces a £5 billion income tax cut from 2024. The National Insurance starting thresholds will rise to £12,570 from July. The Government says that the tax cut, worth over £6 billion,…
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The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said decisions taken by the Chancellor in his Spring Statement will reveal whether he believes the Government should be protecting consumers from external events or not. IFS says with the cost of living soaring, Rishi Sunak will have to decide whether to cut spending or borrow more to…
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The Resolution Foundation has warned that a typical household’s income will fall by about £1,000 this year once the effect of inflation is accounted for. The change in inflation would be the biggest real-terms fall in incomes since the mid-1970s, the think tank added. It expects inflation to peak in April at 8.3% – much…
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UK wage growth failed to keep pace with the rising cost of living between October and December, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show. While wages increased, when taking inflation into account pay was down 0.8% compared to a year earlier. Employees’ regular pay, excluding bonuses, grew by 3.7% between October and December from a…
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