Latest Home Office data analysed by the new global talent firm, Immpact, reveals that workers from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe experienced the highest volume of work visa refusals over 12 months. Further analysis of nearly 500,000 work visa applications found that applicants from Bangladesh (75%), Ghana (77%), Pakistan (80%), Nigeria (80%), and Kenya (86%) had the lowest grant rates statistically for work visas by the Home Office in the year ending September 2024. The latest data* also shows that the Top 20 list of countries applying for UK work visas during this 12 month period includes the US…
Author: sme-admin
With mandatory identity verification looming and awareness critically low, Umazi warns of disruption, confusion, and soaring fees. Millions of UK company directors could soon find themselves locked out of essential business services as sweeping new identity verification rules come into force, and the majority are still unaware the change is coming. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, every UK company director and Person of Significant Control (PSC) will be required to verify their identity before they can continue performing their legal duties. The new reform, part of the government’s drive to combat fraud, increase corporate transparency, and restore trust in the…
The engineering market is expected to grow to $3.5 trillion in 2025 and grow to $5.8 trillion by 2034. With the need for skilled engineers growing, opportunities for jobseekers within the engineering field are set to follow – but which companies are the hardest to land a job with? To find out, precision components supplier Accu collated data from Glassdoor analysing over 100 engineering companies globally and their interview difficulty, as well as positive and negative experiences. Expert insight has also been provided by Patrick Faulkner, Lead Engineer at Accu. Key Findings: ASM International, Netherlands, has the most negative interview experiences. Four out…
London companies are using innovative incentives to get their employees back into the office – including allowing workers to bring their dogs to work. Other perks being offered to entice people to return include free artisan coffee and cookies, hair straighteners in bathrooms and being allowed to hang your own art in the office, according to commercial law firm Hamlins. Others offer running clubs with a coach, state of the art bike racks and discount deals for shops or restaurants in the office area. John Leasure, real estate partner at Hamlins, said: “It used to be that the premium you…
Microlise, a leading provider of innovative solutions for the transport sector, has announced the release of its brand-new Automate, Visualise and Deliver packages. Aimed at introducing scalable fleet management tools to thousands of small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the solutions help operators do more with less. The suite, which grows in capability at the same time as the operator’s business grows, offers real-time fleet visibility, allows for proactive system analysis and increases process efficiency in fleets of between 11 and 100 vehicles. It enables the operator to ‘Automate’ planning and optimisation processes, allowing them to take last-minute jobs on board – at…
Cyber insurance specialists, Towergate Insurance, are warning against the danger of your email address being hacked. Email addresses are commonly used for online banking, shopping, social media networking sites, file sharing platforms, business related account and/software. Unfortunately, this widespread usage can leave people vulnerable to cybercrime. A compromised email inbox is a jackpot for a cyber criminal. Marc Rocker, Head of Cyber at Towergate (soon to be Everywhen) commenting on what can happen if your email is hacked said: “After gaining access to your inbox, it’s easy for a cybercriminal to piece together a comprehensive picture of your life and…
Seafields, the world’s first Sargassum seaweed management and farming company, has launched its second crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube – giving angel investors and the general public the chance to back a scalable solution that can transform an ecological crisis into a profitable, planet-positive industry. At full deployment, Seafields’ model could remove up to 42 gigatonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere while opening a multi-billion-dollar market for sustainable bio-feedstocks. The campaign is already building strong momentum, with over £167,370 raised already in this round from more than 140 investors as of 11 August, contributing to secured total funding of equity, debt…
Smart planning today can protect your family’s future for generations to come. Oleg Tsyura, a Zurich-based entrepreneur and investor with over 25 years of experience, examines how business owners and high net worth individuals can preserve their wealth for their families and ensure a lasting legacy for their loved ones. More than a million people with over $5 million in assets are expected to pass on almost $31 trillion to their families in the next 10 years. Those statistics signal that wealth creates huge opportunities and serious risks. For high net worth families, the real challenge isn’t just passing down…
More Than 160 Million Attack Simulations in Live Production Environments Reveal Valid Credentials Are Easy to Steal and Nearly Impossible to Stop Picus Security, the leading security validation company, today released the Blue Report™ 2025, based on more than 160 million real-world attack simulations in live production environments. Now in its third year, the report provides a data-driven assessment of how well security controls perform against today’s threats — and this year’s findings are the most concerning to date. While cyberattacks grow in both volume and sophistication, defensive effectiveness is declining. This year’s data paints a particularly grim picture: In 46%…
Sales is no longer static for businesses and their sales teams. With shifting client needs, evolving buyer behaviour, and ongoing worldwide economic volatility, continuous learning and development (L&D) is a critical driver of sales success. Research found that without ongoing L&D, sales professionals forget 84% of sales training content within three months, underlining the need for regular reinforcement. According to Mentor Group’s Matt Webb and Lisa Ojomoh, there are four key principles that can help businesses transform their approach to L&D to build high-performing, future-ready sales teams. Shift from event-based training to a learning ecosystem Traditional training models, such as one-off…