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A Government report released in April shows a stark picture of how households are coping with their housing costs and savings in the pandemic. The problems apply to both the home-owning and rental sectors, but renters seem to have been hardest hit. The Second Wave Household Resilience Study After more than a year of the pandemic, the Government has published a study of how households are holding up in the wake of the

With lockdown being cautiously eased, many businesses are looking forward to reopening, especially those in the retail and hospitality sectors. However, many of these have been closed, or at least operating on a restricted basis, for the past thirteen months and will find reopening difficult. However, a new wave of government support for businesses started on 6th April, under the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS). One Schem

If a company that owes you money has debts so extreme that there’s no possibility of payment, you can apply to the courts to have it wound up. This is a drastic measure and usually a final one — once the winding-up order is granted, it normally means the company is finished. Exceptionally, however, you might change your mind. It’s possible to apply to have the order rescinded, but the process is complicat

You don’t have to be a major organisation to form a limited company. Statistically, most companies have only a handful of employees, or are even solo enterprises. However, if you’re running a limited company, you’ll have the status of company director, and as such you’ll have various responsibilities. Unfortunately, not all company directors are aware of what these are. How much do you know? W

The past six months have been hard on everyone, and many SMEs have found themselves struggling financially. The government has created a variety of opportunities allowing businesses to borrow money or defer payment, but this has come at a price — high levels of unsustainable debt. Financial Predictions for Business A recent report by TheCityUK has predicted that UK businesses, the vast majority of which are SMEs, are

If there’s one thing that unites virtually all SME business owners, it’s the scourge of late payments. This is always a problem, especially for those operating on narrow margins, but the pandemic seems to have turned it into a crisis. The Scourge of Late Payments The great majority of SMEs don’t enjoy the huge cash reserves and almost unlimited credit enjoyed by the giant companies. If they’re

Did you know that your business email footer must contain specific pieces of information by law? The Companies Act (UK letterhead legal requirements) states that all business must display the following business details on their letterheads. The name of their business The part of the country that the business is registered The registered company number The address of the registered office Furthermore – if you’re a par

Insolvency — it’s a prospect every business owner has nightmares about, even if everything seems fine at the moment. But what leads to a business becoming insolvent, and how can you, as owner, see the signs that you’re at risk? Why Does a Company Become Insolvent? Insolvency can be the result of a company no longer being able to pay its way. It may be unable to meet its debts or have more liabilities than assets, but

If someone owes you money that’s well overdue, you’ll want to take action to try and recover it. That’s quite right — but it’s important to go about it in the right way. In particular, it’s crucial to understand why the debtor isn’t paying. Two Types of Debtor Broadly speaking, people (whether individuals or business owners) fail to pay their bills for one of two reasons. Either they choose not to pay, or they simply

Early this month, BA issued an apologetic warning that their booking website had been hacked. Describing the incident as a “sophisticated, malicious criminal attack”, they admitted that customers’ credit card details had been stolen — including the CVV codes, suggesting an interception rather than harvesting data. BA is just the latest in a long list of major organisations that have suffered recent