For Self Assessment taxpayers, January is often the dreaded month with annual tax bills and the first payment on account needing to be paid before 31 January. But for those struggling to meet their tax payments in full before the deadline, help is at hand in the form of a Time to Pay arrangement. Time to Pay arrangements allow you to organise an affordable monthly payment plan. To set this up, you will need the relevant reference number for the tax you cannot pay, such as your unique tax reference number, your UK bank account details and details of your…
Author: sme-admin
By Tom Glason, CEO of ScaleWise, the go-to-market and talent partner for fast-scaling B2B tech firms. Most growing businesses don’t stall because leaders hold too little control. They stall because leaders hold on to the wrong kind of control for too long. In research conducted by ScaleWise, we found that 50% of startups still rely on the CEO to lead go-to-market. That approach can work early on. But as complexity increases and scale demands new capability, founder-led GTM quickly becomes a bottleneck. In response, many leaders try to step back by adding layers of targets, dashboards and training, while still doing the…
~ The steps your business needs to take in 2026 to prepare ~ When the clock stroke midnight on 1 January 2026, every small and medium-sized business in the UK should have had one resolution at the top of their list: preparing for the PSTN switch off. Here, Kristian Torode, director and co-founder of business communication and PSTN switch off specialist Crystaline offers a complete checklist of everything your business needs to review as we ring in the new year. For decades, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) has been the backbone of UK business communications. But its time is…
Following the government’s recent announcement of a £10 billion AI investment push, new research has revealed the current state of AI automation trends in UK business. These statistics from the experts at B2B lead generation agency Sopro, reveal the widespread deployment of automation and the measurable returns businesses are achieving as a result. You can view the full report here: https://sopro.io/resources/blog/ai-sales-and-marketing-statistics/ AI automation trends in business: More than half of all corporate AI budgets go to sales and marketing automation Sales and marketing functions receive the largest share of corporate AI investment. More than half of all AI budgets are now directed…
Small businesses are facing a tough start to 2026 as confidence slumps and growth plans stay out of reach, new research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reveals. The Small Business Index (SBI) plunged to -71 in the final quarter of 2025, meaning far more businesses were struggling than succeeding. This is down from -58 in Q3 and the lowest it’s been since the outbreak of Covid in 2020, when it dropped to -143. The hospitality accommodation and food sector is the worst hit, recording a confidence score of -104 – with 46 per cent of those small firms planning to decrease staff between January…
In response to reports that the United States may introduce a 10% import tariff under proposals linked to Donald Trump’s trade agenda involving Greenland, Dr Jonathan Owens, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management at the University of Salford, has shared expert insight on what this could mean for UK businesses and supply chains. UK businesses are facing renewed uncertainty following reports that the United States may introduce a 10% import tariff. If enforced, the tariffs could have a significant ripple effect across UK supply chains, particularly for manufacturers, exporters, and logistics providers with strong transatlantic links. The US is one of…
Most business owners believe the difference between a £1-2m company and a £10m company is scale: more people, more customers and more products. While that’s partly true, the real differentiator is less visible but far more powerful. It’s financial clarity. At Insight Associates, we’ve spent over 30 years helping ambitious businesses replace reactive, ‘make-do’ financial management with clear, decision-driving insight. Time and again, we see the same pattern: businesses don’t stall because they lack opportunity, they stall because their numbers aren’t giving them the answers they need to grow. Behind every fast-growing, well-run £10m+ business sits a leadership team with…
January has long been known as a peak month for jobseekers updating their CVs and looking for a fresh start in their careers. But new data suggests the new year reset isn’t just happening at an individual level, as the ripple effects of this annual shake-up are now being felt by businesses, particularly when it comes to office space decisions, according to serviced office provider WorkWell. Recent Google Trends data shows UK searches for “serviced offices” have spiked by 59% in the past week*, signalling a growing reluctance among businesses to commit to traditional office leases at the start of…
New figures reveal that higher earners in the UK are leaving substantial sums of money on the table each year by not claiming the full pension tax relief available to them. For individuals earning over £50,270, hundreds of millions in unclaimed tax relief are going unclaimed annually – money that could directly boost retirement savings. This is according to pensions specialist, Penfold. Pension contributions are one of the most tax-efficient ways to save for retirement. Basic-rate taxpayers automatically receive 20% tax relief on contributions, but higher-rate (40%) and additional-rate (45%) taxpayers must claim the remainder themselves. Many simply don’t, missing out…
Without long-term funding, institutional reform and strengthened oversight, Britain risks drifting from what the Intelligence and Security Committee describes as a state of “managed vulnerability” toward long-term decline. Britain’s intelligence and national security apparatus is operating at the edge of its structural capacity just as geopolitical threats multiply, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) Annual Report for 2023–2025. While the UK continues to achieve tactical successes and has updated elements of its legislative framework, the report paints a sobering picture of a system increasingly reliant on short-term fixes, crisis redeployments and implicit risk acceptance rather than sustained investment and reform.…