SOUTHWEST-BASED social care consultancy practice Shreeve Care Services is partnering with call answering service Care Assist to support care providers to answer phone calls. “After two decades witnessing care providers struggle with overwhelming call volumes whilst families desperately seek information about loved ones, I’ve found a solution to one of the sector’s most damaging yet overlooked problems: unanswered calls,” said Janet, who lives in Wiltshire. The scale of the crisis is staggering. Industry research reveals 52% of care home enquiry calls go unanswered, with 85% of callers never ringing back. For a typical care home, each missed enquiry could mean…
Author: Greg Robinson
Employment Uncovered, launched by global employment platform Employment Hero, reveals what the past year at work really looked like for people across the UK. The new research explores how people worked, rested and managed pressures throughout 2025. Based on aggregated insights from over 100,000 employee records within small businesses and a national survey of 1,000 UK workers, it captures a year defined by pressure, burnout and uncertainty, but also shows a resilient nation finding ways to stay positive. Workers are taking holidays – but not switching off On average, UK workers have taken 19 days of annual leave so far* in…
Pioneering MedTech company, Tachmed, has moved into Leap – a new landmark lab incubator space at ARC West London – to drive the next phase of its development strategy. Co-founded by Paul Christie and Lord Maxwell Beaverbrook in 2018, Tachmed is reimagining the world of diagnostics through the development of a low-cost, AI-powered device, TachShield, which will enable users to self-test for a range of conditions — anytime, anywhere. Set to officially launch to market in 2026, TachShield will quickly identify a range of conditions, from chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other inflammatory disease biomarkers to infectious…
Generational communication expert, speaker and author Alastair Greener has marked the launch of his new book, Generationally Speaking – How to Bridge the Generation Gap and Communicate with Confidence, with an event at the Saïd Business School in Oxford. The launch took place recently and brought together 35 guests, including representatives from the Saïd Business School, the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce and members of the press. The room included people from different age groups, which Alastair said felt like “the perfect reflection of what the book is all about.” The evening was hosted by speaker and author Duncan Bhaskaran Brown,…
A new national awards programme has been launched to recognise the achievements of the best small businesses across the UK. The Best SME Awards have been created by entrepreneur Debbie Gilbert, who founded the Best Business Women Awards more than a decade ago which celebrates the diversity and power of female-founded enterprises. “I’ve worked with business owners for many years and so many of them achieve brilliant things without ever stepping into the spotlight,” Debbie said. “During the years of The Best Business Women Awards, many men have come along and have asked about offering the same opportunities for all…
South West-Based IT firm, Westspring IT are doing their due diligence when it comes to tackling the big issues their clients – and all businesses – will face for their technology in the new year. For WestSpring IT, 2025 has been a year of growth and development. Through expanding their team and client offerings, they have gained invaluable insight into what the future could hold for businesses in the new year. Emma Carter, chief executive of WestSpring IT, has seen clients return because they provide personal understanding and are providing tailored support, especially for areas of concern for clients. “At…
Businesses from across the UK have once again put their washrooms under the spotlight, with new figures from the 2025 Loo of the Year Awards showing a sharp rise in first time entrants and a clear push on improving standards. Run by businesswoman Becky Wall BEM, the scheme has spent almost four decades celebrating excellence in ‘away from home’ washroom facilities. “Our mission is to celebrate and recognise good, great, outstanding and exceptional washrooms across the UK,” Becky said. “When people are choosing where to spend their time and money, they notice the small things. Clean, well designed and properly…
Employment Service Adviser at the NFU, Mandy Phanasan offers tips on your obligations and dealing with staffing issues during periods of disruptive weather. With the UK experiencing harsher and more extreme weather conditions than ever before, the potential consequences for the workplace have never been more relevant. Adverse weather conditions can range from heavy snowfall and flooding to gale force winds and icy hazardous road conditions. Here we discuss the importance of how weather and travel disruptions can impact your staff and how you can manage this problem effectively. Travel Disruptions Severe weather warnings regarding dangerous conditions are normally issued…
Rebecca Sutherland, Investor, founder and CEO of Harbar Six provides SMEToday’s readers with some insight into the lessons she will be taking into 2026. I led a pilot programme working closely with founders and business leaders who had the ambition and drive to grow but needed clearer direction to get there. Together, we stripped things back, reset priorities and rebuilt around what really fuels progress. Through hands-on teamwork, honest conversations, and tailored support, clear patterns kept coming up, both from these sessions and from my own journey scaling businesses. These are the lessons I’m taking into 2026, and the ones…
Many UK SMEs now depend on external finance, and Funding Agent encourages them to view borrowing as a strategic tool rather than a last resort. Through its platform, SMEs can quickly access unsecured business loans of about £1,000–£500,000 from matched lenders, without using property as security and with fast, streamlined applications. The Role of Unsecured Loans in SME Growth Unsecured business loans are most valuable when a business needs fast, flexible funding. Because they aren’t secured against specific assets, they can be arranged quickly and used for many purposes, such as hiring, marketing, tech upgrades or working capital, but they…