Introduction According to a 2026 survey from the British Chambers of Commerce, around 27% of UK businesses are struggling to pay their energy bills due to continued high energy costs. There are higher levels of difficulties in the manufacturing sector with 35% stating they are struggling with energy costs and 34% in consumer facing businesses … Read more
Introduction According to a recently published report by the Enterprise Research Centre titled The State of Small Business Britain 2025 Navigating Uncertainty, more than one-third (36%) of working age UK adults are now starting, running or planning to launch a business, which is the highest level for UK entrepreneurial activity since 1999 when this activity … Read more
Introduction According to the latest Barclays Business Prosperity Index 86% of UK firms stated that they were confident in the strength of their business in Q4 of 2025. In terms of growth prospects, 58% of business leaders believe that the UK is a more attractive market to start, scale and grow a business when compared with … Read more
Introduction According to Innovate UK’s State of Innovation Report 2025, innovative businesses are finding their average sales growth increased by 7% over the last year, which is well above the average for non-innovators, where growth stagnated at 0.4%. There is even more impressive sales growth for “frontier firms” at 9% over the last year. Frontier … Read more
Introduction According to a Post-Budget end of 2025 survey providing an outlook of UK Landlord intentions for 2026 by Lendlord, 66% of UK landlords are planning growth activity over the next 12 months. This growth activity covers acquisition of new property, refinancing and refurbishment and shows that despite current economic uncertainty there is still a … Read more
UK research and innovation funding is entering a period of significant change. UK Research and Innovation, which invests around £8 billion a year, has confirmed it will pause and reshape parts of its funding while moving to a more focused investment model. For UK SMEs interested in R&D funding, this shift brings both challenges and … Read more
Introduction According to the Hiring Trends Report 2026 by TotalJobs, 58% of UK businesses surveyed feel that they are confident they will hire the talent they need within the first half of 2026. Hiring activity is still highly cautious overall for smaller businesses, as only 25% of SMEs plan to increase recruitment activity in 2026 … Read more
Introduction According to the latest National Business Confidence Monitor by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in January 2026, capital investment increased across all sectors by 2.0% (quarter on quarter) in Q4 2025, which was up slightly from 1.8% in Q3. However, due to business borrowing costs forecast to remain at … Read more
The conclusion of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in March 2026 marks a pivotal shift in the landscape of regional economic development, as the government moves toward a funding model that prioritizes long-term capital investment over the revenue-based support services that many businesses currently rely upon. This transition is centered around the introduction of the … Read more
Introduction According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Construction Journal Economic Outlook for 2026 details that UK interest rates are forecast to drop down to 3.25% by the end of the year, and inflation to drop down to 2.8%, are being cautiously welcomed by the construction industry as it means that financing costs across … Read more