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One of the few positive statistics from the first year of the Covid pandemic was a sharp drop in business insolvencies. This was driven by the various measures the government put in place to support businesses, in particular the furlough system. However, these measures have ended now, and the latest figures show that business insolvencies are climbing. What Do the Figures Show? The Insolvency Service has published th

Overdue payments are a fact of life in business, and unfortunately the situation only looks like getting worse. High inflation is going to squeeze everyone’s cashflow, and even if your customers are trying their best to keep up payments, they might be chasing bad debts themselves. So what strategies are available to you, if you want to chase money owed to you? Using Your Customer Relations When you have a probl

Contracts come in many different types. A contract can be a document to rival War and Peace in length and complexity, or it can be little more than a handshake. However, it’s a contract if it amounts to a provable agreement of how business is going to be conducted between two parties. So do you really need something formal, when an informal agreement serves the same purpose? What Is a Contract A contract is a l

Official inflation figures have just been released for December, and it won’t be a surprise to many people that the news is bad. The figure is 5.4% — the highest inflation since March 1992. This is clearly bad news for consumers, especially those on low income, but what is it likely to mean for your business? Inflation Squeezing Household Spending Much of the recent inflation, the highest this century, is obvio

If you’re offering services to clients, you have the choice of whether to request payment up front, allow them to pay after delivery or set up a payment plan. Many business owners shy away from asking for up-front payment, fearing it will make them less attractive to prospects. However, this can lead to situations of having to pursue the client through the courts for unpaid invoices — or even having to write th

Many sectors of the financial world have their own independent oversight bodies. The best known is probably the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) but similar organisations operate in various areas of finance. One notable exception, though, has been the debt enforcement sector — but that may be changing. A prominent think-tank has brought together various sides of the sector and proposed a framework for a new oversigh

The perfect balance for any landlord is to ensure a regular, unbroken income from your property with a minimum of effort and hassle. And the best way of ensuring that is to keep any good tenants you already have. The obvious advantage of keeping a good tenant is that you won’t have gaps in the rent coming in, but there are other benefits. If the tenancy isn’t constantly changing, you’ll be spending

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

The financial effects of the pandemic have been severe on many of us, whether we’re acting as companies, landlords or individuals. One lifeline has been the ability to take “payment holidays” in the repayment of mortgages, loans or debts. This has been invaluable — but is it really the straightforward benefit it seems? Recent research by Resolver suggests it may not be. Payment Holidays Early in the