Residents living in housing for people in later life across England will soon have access to fitness classes, wellbeing support and an online community designed specifically for people aged 55 and over, thanks to a new partnership between Gloucestershire-based Jim’s Gym and Anchor’s Be Well 360 service. Founded by Stroud personal trainer James Hilton, Jim’s Gym helps people aged 55 and over stay active, build strength and maintain their independence through live online classes, on-demand workouts and a supportive community. The new partnership will see residents at Be Well 360 locations gain access to the Jim’s Gym platform, which helps older people stay…

The FD Consultant, founded by London-based finance director Romesh Jeyaseelanayagam, takes home multiple business awards honouring the business’s commitment to customers and supporting SMEs. Over the last weekend of April, The FD Consultant, visited both the Kingston Borough Business Awards and the Best SME Awards after being announced as finalists in four categories across the two business awards. The consultancy firm provide fractional finance director and CFO support to start-ups and SMEs across the UK, working closely with founders who need senior financial expertise without appointing a full-time board-level hire. On 23rd April, Romesh and his team headed to the Kingston Borough Business Awards which recognise businesses making a strong impact within the local business community.…

Having been in the legal industry for over 20 years, I’ve seen disruption more than once. I started my career at law firm Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman) and later became Director of Transformation at LexisNexis UK. Now, I’m CEO of Flex Legal, a SME dedicated to championing diversity across the legal sector. In pushing for change, I’ve realised that while disruption is out of our control, how we respond to it isn’t.  Strength doesn’t necessarily come from size. With smaller teams, SMEs have a chance at proactive response and can usually sense change before it’s too late. How does this work in practice? Scale versus speed There’s no denying the value of large firms. With their depth of expertise, capacity and infrastructure, bigger teams can stay calm in…

A year after taking on the CEO role at Bristol-based WestSpring IT, Emma Carter has been reflecting on the lessons she has learned while leading a growing business through a period of change, investment and development.  The reflection comes shortly after WestSpring IT was named in the IT Channel Oxygen Fast-Growth 50 for 2026. For Emma, the last 12 months have reinforced some simple but important truths about leadership, growth and building a business for the long term. Lesson one: You don’t need all the answers One of the biggest surprises for Emma has been how much leadership comes down to judgement. “People often imagine leadership is about…

Award-winning charity Best Mates hosted the first Community Impact Round Table in May, creating a space for organisations to share ideas, build connections and strengthen support across the community.  Earlier this year, the charity was named Charity of the Year at the South West Business Awards in Swindon. During the event, co-founder Jeff Tucker won a business lunch for eight people in a raffle and decided to use it to bring together charities, community groups and organisations from across the region. Founded by Jeff Tucker and Carl McCulloch, Best Mates provides financial, emotional and physical support to adults aged 18 and over facing life’s challenges. The charity…

There’s a pattern playing out across UK businesses right now. A founder signs up for ChatGPT. A sales director installs Claude. Someone in marketing starts using an AI image tool. The tools stack up, the subscriptions add up, and somewhere around month three, the question gets asked: ‘Why haven’t things changed?’ This is the most common, and most costly, mistake SMEs are making with AI right now. Not that they’re using it. But that they’re collecting tools instead of building a strategy. The Myth and the Reality A narrative has been quietly forming in boardrooms and business forums across the…

Making Tax Digital 2026: The Complete Guide for UK Small Businesses Making Tax Digital (MTD) is HMRC’s most ambitious tax reform in a generation — and in 2026, it enters a critical new phase that directly affects hundreds of thousands of sole traders and landlords across the UK. If you’re self-employed or receive income from property, you need to know whether MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) applies to you, and what you need to do before the deadlines hit. This guide covers everything: what MTD is, who it applies to, the 2026 and 2027 rollout, what…

Loo of the Year Awards, the UK’s leading independent washroom benchmarking scheme, has been invited to share its expertise at Interclean Amsterdam, the world’s largest professional cleaning and hygiene exhibition, with Managing Director Becky Wall BEM speaking on behalf of the organisation. Held at RAI Amsterdam, the event attracts cleaning, hygiene and facilities management professionals from across the globe and is widely regarded as one of the sector’s most influential gatherings. Becky was invited to present by Interclean Show Director Robert Stelling, following discussions about the role washroom standards play in customer experience, accessibility and hygiene. Speaking on Interclean’s Health & Hygiene Stage, Becky shared insights into how high-quality washroom facilities can improve…

Small business owners are, by nature, a self-sufficient breed. They fix problems, find solutions, and get things done. So, when AI tools arrived promising instant answers, ready-made documents and round-the-clock availability, the uptake was inevitable. Yulia Barnes, Managing Partner at Barnes Law, explains why the rise of AI is making getting proper professional legal advice more important than ever, and why AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. The draw is not simply cost. For most business owners, the real appeal is speed and control. AI feels like the answer to both problems. It is immediate, consistent, and…

UK sponsor licence revocations hit a record in 2025. The Home Office stripped more than 3,100 employers of their licence over the year, the highest annual total since records began in 2012. Between October and December alone, over 1,500 businesses lost their sponsorship, up from 541 in the previous three months. For small and medium-sized employers who sponsor overseas talent, the compliance risk has moved from background paperwork to a live threat to the business. Most SME boards have not yet caught up with this change. Sponsor licence compliance still sits on the HR or operations to-do list, often handled…

Data breaches used to be something that happened to big corporations, the Equifaxes and TalkTalks of the world. But that assumption is increasingly dangerous for small and medium-sized businesses. Cybercriminals have shifted their attention down the food chain, and SMEs, often running leaner IT setups and without dedicated security teams, have become prime targets. The consequences go well beyond the immediate financial hit. A serious breach can damage client trust, trigger regulatory action, and in some cases, permanently close a business that took years to build. The Compliance Pressure Is Mounting If you’re storing client data (and almost every business…

Businesses looking to reduce fleet costs and accelerate their transition to electric vehicles have the opportunity to attend Select Live 2026, the flagship business and fleet event hosted by Select Car Leasing at Reading FC’s Select Car Leasing Stadium. The free-to-attend event showcases almost 100 of the latest cars and vans from leading manufacturers, including BMW, Audi, Tesla, Porsche, BYD and XPeng, giving fleet operators and business owners the chance to compare the newest electric, hybrid and low-emission vehicles in one location. Alongside the vehicle displays, visitors can hear from industry experts on topics including fleet electrification, salary sacrifice schemes,…

A Manchester wellness brand with roots in three generations of family beekeeping has grown from near-collapse during COVID into a £9.4m business — after its founder turned down an offer from Dragon’s Den investor Peter Jones and chose to back himself instead. Just Bee Honey, co-founded by Joe Harper and Andy, is named in the recent Sunday Times 100 fastest-growing private companies — a milestone that would have seemed improbable just a few years ago when the pandemic threatened to wipe out everything the pair had built. Joe’s connection to bees runs deep. His grandfather kept bees in Northern Ireland,…

Economic turbulence, rising costs, and a growing regulatory landscape are reshaping how UK SMEs approach their finances. Core accounting functions remain as important as ever, but changing times call for more hands-on guidance, pushing many to seek outsourced finance teams for a much-needed upgrade. Here are some signs you have outgrown your current accountant.  Admin consumes valuable business time Your invoices need chasing, your receipts need organising, and while these are essential tasks, they distract you from chasing leads and generating new business. You could streamline these processes, but that would require more structure and support than traditional accountancy relationships…

Demand for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software grows ever stronger. The global market was already a very healthy  $87.73 in 2024. By 2032, it’s expected to hit $230 billion. Factors such as falling costs, increasingly sophisticated SaaS platforms, and the growing role of AI are widening access for all companies, particularly SMEs. The benefits an ERP can bring are clear. They can integrate finance, HR, manufacturing, customer relations, sales, and other departments around a centralised platform, improving efficiency and productivity, removing silos, and creating faster but genuinely collaborative decision-making. But as with any major company project, if not planned for…

Porsche Centre Reading explores how Porsche E-Performance is redefining the premium EV experience. Electric vehicles are no longer an emerging trend within the business community. For many SME owners, directors and decision-makers, the benefits of electrification are already well understood. The conversation has evolved. Today, the real question is not whether to choose an electric vehicle, but which electric vehicle genuinely delivers the performance, usability and driving experience expected of a premium brand. That is where Porsche E-Performance takes a distinctly different approach. A Porsche first. An EV second. As more manufacturers enter the electric market, many vehicles are beginning…