COVID-19 Business News

Businessman in handcuffs. Covid scheme fraud illustration

Lengthy bans for directors who fiddled Covid scheme

AN AVERAGE of 35 directors are being banned by the UK Insolvency Service each month for abusing the Covid Support Scheme. That’s almost treble the...
Zoom conference call on laptop

SMEs head online to counter lockdown — and find surprise benefits

SMALL UK businesses are moving the bulk of their services online as the sector takes tentative steps towards recovery. Small Business Britain and BT Skills...
Studenteer logo

Student initiative aims to enhance training opportunities during crisis

A UK COMMUNITY initiative connecting furloughed workers with volunteer opportunities has launched a parallel initiative for students and graduates. Studenteer is a sister project of...
Covid, downward graph, pandemic debt concept

SMEs and the wolf at the door

By LUCY TROTT and KATIE PHILIPSON THROUGHOUT the pandemic, a steady stream of government support was made available to prop-up businesses. As we move towards a...
UN SDG8 Decent work and economic growth

SDG8: From Luddites to the Mumbai exodus: workers labouring without love

JASON AGNEW reports on SDG8 — decent work and economic growth — in his ongoing series for BV SDG8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH On March...
Business closed

UK firms on cliff edge as crisis continues, distress tracker reveals

MORE than a half-a-million UK businesses are facing a high risk of insolvency, and 250,000 may not survive another month without a change to...
Man with dog working from home

Straddling the fence: will hybrid working be middle ground in home-or-office?

By ROSS SEYCHELL IT’S BEEN a year since the UK entered the biggest — and longest — remote-working experiment in history. But with the vaccine rollout...
Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor

Second helping of aid for the UK’s self-employed

SELF-EMPLOYED people whose income has been hit by coronavirus can apply for a second support grant from the UK government. The first was launched in...
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Autumn Statement

Sunak’s Budget brings relief to many – with a few misgivings

By HAL WILLIAMS THE BRITISH chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced the 2021 Budget, with pledges to help recovery from the Covid pandemic. The support package for...
US Federal Reserve building

Holdun Family Office finds serenity and growth amid pandemic chaos —...

Holdun’s uncorrelated Alternative Investment Funds provide shelter from the oscillations of the volatile equity market. MICHAEL O’CONNOR reports. THE FIRST half of 2020 has been...