Introduction According to the State of Play 2025/26 survey from the Home Builders Federation that outlines challenges of UK small and medium sized homebuilders, the top 5 major barriers to growth and unlocking new housing delivery over the next 12 months have been identified as: i) Delays in securing planning permission – 94%ii) Lack of … Read more
Introduction According to the November 2025 Labour Market Tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC) the number of new jobs posted by UK businesses in October 2025 was 754,359, up by 2.1% from September 2025. Active job postings were also 7.5% higher in October 2025 when compared with October 2024. The REC consider these … Read more
Introduction According to the Barclays Business Prosperity Index for the second quarter of 2025, 53% of SMEs surveyed intend to increase their investment spend over the next 12 months. In terms of investment area focus, 35% of businesses surveyed are looking to invest in new capital equipment to upgrade their operations, which is a comparable … Read more
Introduction According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Q3 Commercial Property Monitor, retail space occupancy demand has dropped by 21% in Q3 when compared with Q2 of 2025. The office space sector also saw a decline of 4% quarter on quarter and for industrial space there was a fall of 6%. Expert respondents … Read more
Introduction According to a recent British Business Bank report titled SMEs and Net Zero, 63% of SMEs believe there is at least one benefit to taking steps towards net zero and reducing their carbon footprint. However, 83% of SMEs surveyed also currently have at least one barrier preventing them from progressing on net zero goals. … Read more
Introduction According to the New Startup Index by Natwest and Beauhurst, 10 UK regions have seen an increase in new business formations in the first half of 2025, with a total of 426,000 new companies being formed across the country, signifying a significant recovery in activity when compared with the second half of 2024 where … Read more
Introduction According to a new survey from NerdWallet of 500 UK business owners, economic pressures at the end of this year and forecast to continue for 2026 have caused 21% of SMEs to pause their growth plans or delay major investments. A further 21% are planning to freeze recruitment or delay taking on new hires. … Read more
Introduction According to the 2025 UK Innovation Report from EmpowerRD, the average annual R&D spend of UK scale-up businesses now stands at £1.46 million, or 12% of their overall expenditure. A scale-up business is classed as a start-up business that is now registering regular growth of at least 20% per year and are typically found … Read more
Introduction According to a 2025 survey of developers by property financing firm Octane Capital, 34% of property developers have been forced to either scale back or postpone a development project over the past 12 months due to financial barriers. There is also a cautious outlook going forward as 51% of developers surveyed have stated they … Read more
Introduction According to the CIPD Quarterly Labour Market Outlook Summer 2025, only 57% of private sector businesses plan to recruit staff in the next 3 months over Autumn 2025, which is down from 65% in Autumn 2024. These figures are considered to be at record low levels outside of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main reason … Read more