Business News

Passengers planning on travelling during RMT strike action today (Saturday 8 October) and tomorrow (Sunday 9) are being warned not to get caught out with trains finishing much earlier than normal. Only nine trains per hour will depart from the station - that's compared to an average of 40 departures an hour on a non-strike weekday.

An accomplished team of Leominster designers and engineers have created a new ‘construction’ innovation that will change the way temporary steel supports are adjusted. Having experienced the pain of using ‘acrows’ first hand on a renovation project, Grove Design’s Austin Owens challenged his colleagues to come up with a solution that would transform the time-consuming process to make it safe, quick and easy to adjust the supports using a standard impact driver.

The Good Hotel Guide has revealed its annual list of 12 César winners and the Midlands is celebrating two major wins with The Falcon at Castle Ashby securing the Best Hotel in the region gong and The Double Red Duke in Clanfield taking home the Best Pub with Rooms award. In addition, properties in the region feature heavily in the Editor’s Choice lists, including Lake Isle in Uppingham in the Hotels on a Budget category and Hartwell House in Aylesbury making the top Spa properties set.

London may be the country’s banking hub, yet there are 15 places across the UK and several unexpectedly finance-friendly towns that offer surprisingly good career prospects.

A new study found that Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester offer the next best opportunities for a career in finance after London. Meanwhile, big districts like Cornwall, Bradford and Wiltshire disappoint in terms of pursuing a finance career, barely competing with much smaller places, like Stockport, Solihull, Elmbridge, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

Barbers in the West Midlands and Birmingham, who may be considering closing their shops because of the cost-of-living crisis, have been thrown a lifeline by a mobile male grooming business. Get Groomed Mobile Barbers is looking to recruit between 15 and 20 barbers in the Birmingham area at a time when soaring energy bills and other costs are making it increasingly difficult to keep shop premises going.

The Government has today revealed it wants to work with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to create Investment Zones in the West Midlands, which will help drive economic growth, new homes, and jobs.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng also revealed that the Government plans to fast-track a number of vital transport schemes in the region to ensure work gets underway before the end of 2023.

A combination of measures announced in the budget today will create new opportunities for innovative start-ups and will help unlock private investment.

However, these measures must be underpinned by a collaborative and sustainable university sector to succeed says the National Centre for Universities and Business, the collective voice of UK business and universities. Today’s announcements set an economic growth goal of 2.5% and seek to drive up private investment through targeted tax and regulatory measures.  

Below is the stakeholder reaction on specific measures within the Growth Plan, including: alcohol duty, off-payroll working rules (IR35), VAT-free shopping and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

Nuno Teles, Managing Director, Diageo Great Britain said: “Today we raise a Guinness to the Chancellor and PM, as a freeze in alcohol duty is great news for pubs, restaurants, and tourism.

Representatives for the Green Homes Grant scheme which helps homeowners make their property greener and sustainable - and save money on energy bills will bring their roadshow to Blakenhall next week.

City of Wolverhampton Council is partnering with Marches Energy Agency in hosting an energy efficiency roadshow at:

Azets Birmingham’s tax partner, Ray Abercromby, completed a 1,000-mile venture, from Land’s End to John O’Groats in aid of The Pebbles Project Trust, a charity based in South Africa that supports children impacted by poverty in The Winelands.

Being a wine lover, Ray chose to raise money for The Pebbles Project, a charity that was originally set up to help children who were born with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), a preventable birth defect caused by a woman consuming alcohol during her pregnancy, one of the consequences of the wine farms historically part-paying their workers in wine.

A leading independent insurance brokers has been shortlisted for a top industry award.

Carlisle-based H&H Insurance Brokers has been named as a finalist in the 2022 Insurance Times Awards in the Independent Broker of the Year category.

Linda Wyatt has been the CEO of AIM since it was formed in 2012. She stepped down from the position in September this year when the organisation merged with Open College Network West Midlands.

Linda was nominated by AIM colleagues in recognition of her (almost) 40 years of service to the FE / Training/Awarding sector and her leadership of AIM. Initially Linda worked for Open College Network then, after a series of organisational changes, set up the independent Awarding Organisation (AO) AIM Awards in 2012.

Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses commented: “This is clear and decisive action to support growth. The decision to reverse all four of these tax rises will support livelihoods, jobs and small businesses across the UK. Removing taxes on jobs, investment and growth is the right thing to do, and FSB has campaigned long and hard for this decision.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer responded to the ONS public sector finances stats for August 2022. 

The Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Our priority is to grow the economy and improve living standards for everyone - with strong economic growth and sustainable public finances going hand in hand.

Energy bills for UK businesses will be cut by around half their predicted level this winter under a huge government support package. The scheme will fix wholesale gas and electricity prices for firms for six months from October 1, shielding businesses from crippling costs.

Hospitals, schools and charities will also get help, the government said. It comes after ministers announced a £150bn plan to help households with their soaring bills for two years.

XPO Logistics, Inc, a leading provider of freight transportation services, have announced that three of its business leaders have been selected by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine to receive the 2022 SDCE Women in Supply Chain Award: