As the Chancellor prepares to deliver this week’s Autumn Budget, SME business leaders across the UK are bracing themselves – not for bold intervention, but for disappointment. According to Vistage’s latest Q3 CEO Confidence Index, a striking 76% of SME leaders have little to no confidence that the Budget will support business growth, Rebecca Drew, Managing Director, Vistage UK & Ireland provides some insight. This pessimism sits against a background of cautious optimism. While 57% of MSEs expect revenues to rise over the next 12 months, only one in ten anticipate any improvement in the broader economy. Leaders are planning…

Many self-employed business owners and freelancers are balancing invoices and incomes from multiple sources. While this can mean greater financial security and freedom, it can also bring additional administrative headaches when it comes to taxes. According to Lauren Harvey, Accounts Manager at The Accountancy Partnership, an expert in accounting and tax for sole traders, limited companies and freelancers, she sees many freelancers make life harder for themselves when it comes to tax. “Freelancers are always wearing multiple hats; one day hosting a workshop, the next day travelling to a client meeting, and the next day purchasing equipment for the business. However, HMRC…

What business owners need to know about new Companies House requirements – Bernadette Young, Co-founder and Director of Indigo Independent Governance, provides some guidance. From today, (18th of November 2025), all UK directors are subject to new mandatory identity verification requirements. The new obligations are being phased in over the next year, with some directors impacted immediately and others with a little more time to comply. It is not just directors who are going to be subject to the new regime. Persons with Significant Control (PSCs), meaning shareholders with more than 25% ownership or voting rights in the company or…

Berkshire-based document management and software specialists Filestream are celebrating a decade of working with Dublin-based Datascan Document Services. The two companies have collaborated for more than ten years to support a range of clients, particularly in the health care sector in Ireland, to ensure all sensitive documentation is processed in a fully encrypted manner prior to its secure delivery. Paul Day, MD of Filestream, said: “It’s a moment to celebrate this successful partnership. Working with Orla and her team has been a joy and we are very grateful to them for believing in us back then – and still trusting…

Stroud-based personal trainer James Hilton, founder of online fitness platform Jim’s Gym, took to the stage at this year’s Retirement Living Show at the NEC in Birmingham, joining sector leaders for a panel discussion on the role of exercise in later life. The discussion, held on day two of the event, brought together experts from across the UK retirement living sector to explore how fitness, wellbeing and social activities can help residents thrive physically, emotionally, and socially. James joined Liz Fairbank, Care & Lifestyle Director at McCarthy Stone, and Kate Jarvis, Wellbeing Lead for ExtraCare Charitable Trust, in a conversation…

More than a third of the UK’s fastest-growing technology start-ups have no board-level female representation. UK scale-ups are failing to adequately prioritise board-level gender diversity, according to a new study from global growth consultancy Think & Grow. The research shows that while 94% of UK board members believe that it is essential to have a diverse mix of people on a company board, women hold just 18% of board roles across the UK’s fastest growing technology scale-ups. Additionally, more than a third (36%) of these companies have no board-level female representation at all. The findings highlight a disconnect between how…

The leaders of one in eight (12%) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – equivalent to around 680,000 businesses out of the UK’s 5.67 million – are actively planning to relocate themselves, their businesses, or both due to the current tax burden, according to a new poll by Rathbones, one of the UK’s leading wealth and asset management groups. Among those planning to relocate, a third (33%) said they will also move their business abroad, with another third looking to move as individuals, while the rest plan only to move their businesses. Ireland was rated as the top destination by 26% of…

South Wales-based Complete Background Screening (CBS) is helping universities across the UK manage high volumes of DBS checks with greater speed and accuracy through its purpose-built platform, UniPro. The update comes as universities face increasing scrutiny over student placement safeguarding and new DBS ID-checking guidance which came into force this month. The system has already made a measurable difference at Cambridge’s Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), where it helped the applicant services team cut turnaround times, reduce admin work, and achieve their best-ever clearance rates. ARU screens between 2,500 to 2,600 students each year, many preparing for placements in regulated sectors…

Generational communication expert, speaker and author Alastair Greener will officially launch his first book, Generationally Speaking – How to bridge the generation gap and communicate with confidence, at the Saïd Business School in Oxford on the 6th of November. The book explores how eight generations living today can better understand each other, both at work and in everyday life. It brings together insights from Alastair’s long-running podcast, workshops and research to help readers navigate the communication challenges that naturally arise between generations. Alastair said he chose Oxford for the launch because it feels like the perfect setting for a book about…

No matter where you sit in your organization’s structure, understanding how AI can boost your sales efforts is crucial. Let’s dive into the world of AI in sales and explore how it’s reshaping the industry. In today’s fast-paced business world, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a buzzword—it’s a game-changer, especially in sales. No matter where you sit in your organization’s structure, understanding how AI can boost your sales efforts is crucial. Let’s dive into the world of AI in sales and explore how it’s reshaping the industry. How AI is Currently Being Used in Sales It might feel…