Introduction According to a recent survey by PwC, over 77% of businesses from a broad range of industry sectors stated that they had to raise the price of their products and services over the past 2 years due to continued escalation of commercial energy costs in the UK. 81% of respondents also stated that they … Read more
Introduction According to a recent survey by R3, the trade body that specialises in insolvency and business restructuring, in September 2024 most regions across the UK saw an uplift in business start-up activity. All but 2 regions saw an increase in the number of new business ventures forming month-on-month, with Northern Ireland (14.2% increase), West … Read more
Introduction People are often familiar with how expensive home improvements can be, however small business owners also soon discover that renovating commercial premises are also very expensive when you have to factor in labour costs and material costs and the overall scale of the project. The costs to move into and improve a new business … Read more
Introduction According to an annual survey from Atom Content Marketing, 66% of small business owners and sole traders believe their business is going to perform better in 2024 than they did in the previous year. 53% of businesses are planning to carry out growth activities by increasing their marketing spend and 29% of businesses consider … Read more
Introduction In March 2022, the UK Government announced its largest ever research and development (R&D) budget for the period of 2022-2025 at £39.8bn. This means that a significant amount of this money has been made available in the form of innovation grants aimed at businesses who are working in high tech sectors or looking to … Read more
Introduction As of 1 April 2024 the functions of funding bodies Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been transferred back over to local authorities in England. This means that a large amount of local development activity funding that was previously provided by central government to local areas via the LEPs is now being distributed via local … Read more
What Funding Is Available To UK Businesses From The EU? Since Brexit, the funding agreements between the UK and the EU have changed. The UK has lost access to key funds such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which was previously responsible for a large number of improvement projects across the UK. However, agreements … Read more
What Is Digital Transformation? Digital transformation is when businesses take advantage of new digital technology and innovation in order to improve efficiency or gain a competitive advantage. It is becoming increasingly important for small businesses in the UK to modernise their operations by improving their technical infrastructure and taking older tried and tested methods and … Read more
What Opportunities Can UK Universities Provide for Businesses? According to recent research, it is estimated that UK universities will provide over £11.6bn worth of support, funding and services to start-ups and SMEs over the next 5 years. This includes specialist one-to-one advice, providing access to the latest research equipment and facilities to help push cutting … Read more
Although the announcement of the halt in funding for LEPs was made in the 2023 budget it only came into effect on April 1 this year. Since then central government funding has stopped but LEPs still continue to exist (government money only accounted for 10-20% of their overall funding). However, the handing over of core … Read more