Category: News

From 1 April 2010, businesses with an annual turnover of £100,000 or more and all newly VAT registered businesses, must submit their VAT Returns online and pay VAT electronically.

30,000 students have today taken up Peter Jones’ challenge of turning £10 into a projected £1.2 Million in just one month with their own community-minded, enterprising ideas, as part of Enterprise UK’s Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign.

The Conservatives are reported to be working on a pilot for a new automated bank-based system which would remove the responsibility of deducting and paying income tax from employers. The new system could save businesses up to £5.5bn according to the Tories whilst also increasing revenues to the Exchequer by nearly £1Bn

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has today announced that the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) will invest £7.4 million in developing next generation components for fuel efficient aircraft engines.

Yesterday saw the launch of the Small Business Charter as a call to action in the run up to the general election aiming to give small businesses a bigger voice and is being backed by Intuit, the software company behind the accounts package Quickbooks.

Business Confidence data published today claims that businesses in the East of England are predicting a strong growth in turnover of in excess of 4 percent over the coming year which is reflected in a record-high Confidence. The same quarterly published report has now recorded a positive trend in confidence in the East of England for five consecutive quarters.

On the back of Peter Jones opening his first Enterprise Academy and Doug Richard launching his School for Startups, fellow Dragons’ Den star James Caan is now launching his own business academy, the James Caan Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy.

Enterprise UK’s eagerly anticipated annual Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign is doubling in size, offering twice as many students the opportunity to make money and make a difference with a £10 loan. Thanks to a grant of £250,000 from the Big Lottery Fund there will be more opportunities than ever this year for young people to flex their entrepreneurial muscles; making a profit and social impact.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have been criticised by a committee of MPs for failing to lend enough businesses.

There is growing speculation that should the Conservatives win the forthcoming general election they would increase Vat from 17.5 percent to 20 percent to cut the country’s record deficit.

Doug Richard, the ex-dragon and founder of the School for Startups, has written a manifesto for enterprise to be published this week. In it Mr Richard will say that present Government policies hinder innovation and stifle economic development, with his most damning suggestion is that the Government’s Business Link venture, which is supposed to support small and medium-sized enterprises, should be dismantled.

David Cameron has announced that a Conservative government, should his party win the forthcoming election later this year, will be pro-business and pro-entrepreneurs.

Speaking, this morning on the Andrew Marr show on BBC1, he outlined a number of plans to ensure that British business overcomes the current global recession and ensures that it becomes one of the best places to start, run and grow, a business in the world.

The freezing weather conditions and snow have forced millions of people to stay at home, with road and school closures preventing them from working. With the bad weather set to continue for another three weeks, insurer RSA predicts that a day of severe snow could cost the UK economy as much as £690million a day as businesses lose out to the weather.

It is being widely rumoured that Lord Mandelson is to announce an extra bank holiday in the UK in 2012 to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee. Her Majesty will have her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 when the Queen will also be celebrating her 86th birthday.

Barclays has today released £150 million in new funding for UK SMEs through the European Investment Bank (EIB) Loan Support Scheme, which includes a 2.5% upfront cashback payment when the loan is drawn.