Business

Britain’s biggest bookmakers are squaring up for a High Court fight with the Gambling Commission over a controversial new regime of so-called affordability checks, in a row that threatens to drag the regulator into yet another costly courtroom battle and reopen one of the most contentious debates in UK consumer-facing business.

Industry chiefs say the checks, which would block customers from placing further bets once they cross specific loss thresholds, contain “serious failings” and risk pushing hundreds of thousands of punters into an unregulated black market that is already mushrooming online. With the Gambling Commission expected to decide this week whether to impose the rules unilaterally, the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) has put the regulator on formal notice that legal action is now firmly on the table.

A flagship reform under fire

Affordability checks – formally known as financial risk assessments (FRAs), sit at the heart of the biggest overhaul of British gambling laws in a generation, introduced under the previous Conservative government in 2023. The intention was straightforward: identify high-spending customers who may be in financial difficulty and intervene before harm escalates. The political promise that accompanied it was equally clear – any such checks would be “frictionless”, invisible to the ordinary punter.

Under the proposed regime, an FRA would be triggered when a customer loses £1,000 or more in 24 hours, or £2,000 over 90 days. Operators that fail to carry out the checks risk regulatory action; customers who refuse to comply face being locked out of their accounts.

The Commission has leant heavily on the results of its pilot, which ran from September 2024 to April 2025 and used around 800,000 historical data points. According to its own published findings, only 3 per cent of gamblers would face an assessment, and 97 per cent of those would be “frictionless” – meaning the customer would not have to lift a finger.

The BGC disputes almost every part of that picture.

“Serious failings” and a 20% problem

In a letter dated 21 April and addressed to the interim chair of the Gambling Commission, seen by The Sunday Times, the BGC set out “grave concerns about the wider ramifications” of the FRA proposals. The trade body argues that once you strip out customers spending less than £200 a year on betting – essentially casual punters who place the occasional flutter, the true proportion of regular customers caught up in checks could be closer to 20 per cent, not 3 per cent.

It also flagged stark inconsistencies in data drawn from the three credit-reference agencies involved in the pilot. In more than half of some cases, the BGC said, a risk flag was raised by only one of the three agencies, a finding that, if accurate, undermines the central claim that the system can reliably distinguish a vulnerable customer from a comfortable one.

Grainne Hurst, BGC chief executive, did not mince her words: “Given the serious concerns raised by operators, there is a real risk that the industry could ultimately be left with little choice but to consider legal challenges if these proposals proceed without further scrutiny.”

The Commission, the BGC told The Sunday Times, has not yet responded to the April letter.

One senior industry source put it more bluntly: “It’s ridiculous that we’ve been forced to consider such a dramatic step. I hope the Gambling Commission and government see sense. They’re blind to the damage these checks could cause.”

The black market gathering pace

The commercial backdrop for the dispute is what makes it a story for British business, not just the gambling lobby. The Commission’s own reforms, first unpacked by Business Matters, have already raised the cost of compliance for licensed operators and tightened the screws on bonusing, customer interaction and product design – a trend examined in more detail in our analysis of the 2026 gambling reforms.

The fear inside the regulated industry is that affordability checks tip an already finely balanced equation in the wrong direction. The BGC estimates that the offshore black market has more than tripled in size since 2022 and that unlicensed operators could be spending £1 billion a year on advertising by 2028, more than the entire regulated UK market combined. The trade body warns that as much as £300 million in tax receipts could be lost as customers migrate to operators that ask no questions and offer no protections.

Critics counter that the industry is talking up the black-market threat to protect incumbents. Either way, as our earlier reporting on the business of British bookmakers made clear, the licensed sector is a meaningful contributor to the Treasury, to racing’s levy and to high-street employment – and few in Whitehall want to be seen handing market share to operators based in jurisdictions Britain does not regulate.

“The evidence so far suggests these proposals are not fit for purpose and risk driving people away from the regulated market towards the growing illegal online black market, where there are no protections and no safeguards,” Hurst said.

A regulator on the back foot

For the Gambling Commission, the prospect of another High Court fight is awkward, to put it mildly. The regulator has been at the centre of an unusually heavy caseload in recent months, including a bruising dispute with Richard Desmond, the billionaire former proprietor of the Daily Express, over the awarding of the multibillion-pound National Lottery contract, and a separate privacy case brought by executives from Entain, the parent company of Ladbrokes and Coral.

It is also rudderless at the top. Andrew Rhodes, the Commission’s chief executive, departed abruptly earlier this month to join Hawkbridge, the new advisory arm of law firm Harris Hagan – a firm that has acted for several of Britain’s largest bookmakers. The optics of the departure are not lost on operators now contemplating litigation.

In a statement, the Commission defended its approach: “A pilot was used to test how frictionless the White Paper policy could be and give us useful findings on how it could be implemented. We have been rigorously assessing that work in detail throughout the pilot, drawing upon a range of evidence and input from pilot participants and advised by NatCen. The proposed approach has been subject to significant scrutiny already and we have published findings during the process.”

What to watch this week

For the SME-heavy supply chain that hangs off Britain’s regulated betting industry, from data providers and payments firms to marketing agencies and the racing sector, this week’s decision matters. A green light without industry buy-in raises the prospect of months of legal uncertainty, suspended investment and contractual disputes. A pause or a redesign would buy time but extend the regulatory grey zone that has already prompted operators to scale back UK exposure.

What is harder to dispute is that the Commission’s room for manoeuvre is shrinking. With High Court action threatened, a chief executive gone and a black market growing in confidence, the regulator’s next move will be watched not just by bookmakers but by every consumer-facing business that depends on a stable, proportionate licensing regime.

Read more:
Bookmakers ready legal challenge as Gambling Commission prepares to wave through affordability checks

Britain’s artificial intelligence sector pulled in a record £8.3bn of investment last year, as global capital piled into a new generation of British AI companies and London tightened its grip as Europe’s pre-eminent technology hub.

New research from Barclays Eagle Labs found that funding into UK AI businesses surged through 2025 after a sluggish stretch for venture capital markets, fuelled by appetite for firms building everything from the picks-and-shovels infrastructure underpinning generative AI through to specialist legal and financial software.

The numbers underline just how rapidly AI has become one of Britain’s hottest investment narratives, with backers scrambling not to miss the next DeepMind-style breakout. The 2025 total represents a near-trebling on the £2.9bn raised by UK AI firms a year earlier, confirming a step-change in both deal flow and ticket sizes.

London remains squarely at the centre of the action. Almost three quarters of Britain’s AI fintech companies are now headquartered in the capital, according to the report, reflecting the city’s deep pool of engineering talent, financial expertise and proximity to global capital.

Much of the cash has flowed towards businesses thought capable of supplying the plumbing behind the AI boom, the compute power, software platforms and data architecture required to train and run large language models, rather than consumer-facing chatbots and apps. For investors hunting the next category-defining business, Britain increasingly looks like one of the few places outside Silicon Valley credibly producing AI firms with global ambitions.

Crucially, nearly half of all UK AI funding rounds last year came from first-time raises, suggesting a fresh cohort of start-ups is entering the market even as the contest for engineers and capital intensifies.

The Barclays Eagle Labs AI 100 cohort, its annual ranking of Britain’s fastest-growing AI businesses, has collectively raised £11.3bn, generates £734m in annual revenue and now employs more than 8,500 people. Software companies dominate the list, mirroring investor appetite for businesses able to monetise AI tools at speed as corporates rush to bolt automation and generative AI into day-to-day operations.

Abdul Qureshi, head of Barclays Business Banking, said: “The UK has no shortage of world-class AI innovation. The challenge is turning those breakthroughs into sustainable global businesses.”

The funding surge mirrors AI’s growing weight in wider markets. Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable listed company earlier this year as investors backed the firms supplying the silicon behind frontier models, while Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet continue to pour tens of billions into global data centre capacity, including Microsoft’s own £22bn commitment to a UK AI supercomputer build-out. London-listed asset managers and pension funds are coming under mounting pressure to ensure they are not bystanders to the trend.

Westminster, for its part, has moved aggressively to brand Britain as a destination for AI capital. The government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, launched last year and updated in 2026, sits alongside a new Sovereign AI Unit charged with backing home-grown firms and preventing prized intellectual property from drifting overseas before it can scale.

Yet for all London’s dominance, the story is not solely a capital one. The North West’s AI ecosystem has expanded faster than London’s since 2019, the report notes, albeit from a far smaller base, as clusters built around advanced manufacturing and industrial AI begin to take root outside the M25. For SME founders weighing where to plant their flag, that quiet regional rebalancing may prove as significant as the headline £8.3bn.

Read more:
Britain’s AI boom hits record £8.3bn as London cements European tech crown

For the umpteenth time in 16 years of campaigning, the Westminster fuel-tax script appears to be writing itself again.

According to Treasury sources briefing the FairFuelUK campaign, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to drop the planned fuel duty rise from her Autumn Budget, though insiders caution that any reprieve is unlikely to survive beyond the March 2027 Financial Statement.

The retreat, if confirmed at the despatch box, will be the latest chapter in a saga that has become a fixture of every fiscal event since George Osborne first froze the duty in 2011. It will also be a notable, if temporary, win for Britain’s 5.5 million small businesses, many of whom now describe forecourt costs as the single biggest unhedgeable line in their operating budgets.

A £3bn pump tax raid since the Iran crisis began

Since hostilities flared in the Gulf, drivers have paid an estimated £3 billion more to fill up, while the Treasury has banked close to an additional £500 million in VAT receipts off the back of higher pump prices alone. Oil majors, predictably, have reported bumper margins. The motorist, equally predictably, has been left to foot the bill.

That contrast – soaring corporate profits set against a stagnating consumer economy – is what has put fuel duty firmly back on Reeves’s desk. As Business Matters reported last month, the Middle East flare-up has dragged headline inflation back to 3.3 per cent, hitting transport-heavy SMEs hardest of all.

71,000 emails, 148,000 signatures and counting

FairFuelUK says more than 71,000 of its supporters have now emailed their MPs urging the Chancellor to abandon the Budget hike. A separate petition, which has gathered more than 148,000 signatures, will be hand-delivered to the Treasury in the coming weeks. The campaign is calling not only for the freeze to be extended but for an immediate cut in fuel duty, in line with measures taken by more than 40 other countries.

The lobbying push echoes the cross-party effort earlier this year, when MPs delivered an earlier tranche of FairFuelUK signatures to Downing Street. That campaign cited Centre for Economics and Business Research analysis suggesting any short-term Treasury bounce from raising duty would be wiped out by a collapse of more than 60 per cent in fuel-tax income within five years as drivers cut mileage and shift to EVs.

“Cut all fuel taxes now,” says Cox

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, was characteristically blunt. “This clueless, bankrupting net-zero-driven Government remains stuck in a state of torpor, keeping the UK economy virtually stagnant,” he said. “Time and again, over 16 years of campaigning, we have shown that lower fill-up costs deliver more tax to the Treasury by boosting other revenue streams. The current cost of petrol, particularly diesel, is crippling motorists’ and small businesses’ ability to spend in the economy. When will these ignorant Treasury politicians understand that more money in people’s pockets drives growth? For goodness’ sake, cut all fuel taxes now.”

His frustration is shared in the haulage yards, trades vans and rural high-street economies that keep much of the SME sector ticking. Diesel, the lifeblood of British logistics, remains stubbornly above £1.55 a litre in many regions, and as Business Matters has previously documented, small employers lack both the financial resilience and the pricing power of their corporate counterparts to absorb or pass on the cost.

The international comparison: Britain stands almost alone

What is striking about Cox’s argument is not the rhetoric but the international evidence behind it. The International Energy Agency’s 2026 Energy Crisis Policy Response Tracker lists more than 40 countries that have actively cut, suspended or capped fuel taxes since the Iran conflict began. Britain is conspicuously not on the list.

Among the most striking moves logged by the IEA as of late April:

Germany has cut petrol and diesel duty by roughly 14–17 euro cents a litre.
Spain has slashed fuel VAT from 21 to 10 per cent and suspended its hydrocarbon excise duty.
Poland has cut fuel VAT from 23 to 8 per cent and reduced excise duty to the EU minimum.
Ireland has trimmed excise on petrol and diesel by €0.15–0.20 a litre, plus related levies.
India has taken excise duties on petrol and diesel close to zero in some categories.
Canada has suspended its federal fuel excise tax.
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden and Türkiye have all implemented some form of fuel-tax or duty relief.
Emerging markets including Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Lao PDR, Namibia, the Philippines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Vietnam and Zambia have followed suit, often with measures targeted at hauliers and small operators.

By contrast, the UK has so far stuck rigidly to the 5p Spring 2022 cut and a series of frozen rates, an approach that according to Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts is already pencilled in to deliver a £2.2 billion uplift in fuel duty receipts in 2027–28 once the 5p cut is fully unwound and RPI indexation resumes.

What it means for SMEs

For business owners, the politics matter less than the planning. A scrapped Autumn hike will provide short-term breathing room for fleet operators, tradespeople and rural businesses heading into the winter, but the OBR’s own numbers make clear that the reckoning has merely been postponed. Any operator modelling 2027 cash flow would be wise to assume duty rates will rise sharply once the temporary cut expires and indexation kicks back in.

The deeper question for the SME community is whether the Chancellor is prepared to follow the IEA-tracked majority and use fuel taxation as an active lever to support growth, or whether she will continue to treat the duty as a guaranteed revenue stream to be quietly squeezed. On the evidence of 16 years of campaigning, FairFuelUK is bracing for the latter – even as it prepares to claim a tactical victory in the Autumn.

For now, Britain’s van drivers, hauliers and white-van entrepreneurs can breathe a cautious sigh of relief. The bigger fight, as ever, is in the spring.

Read more:
Treasury wobble: Reeves poised to ditch autumn budget fuel duty hike as fairfueluk pressure tells

Before the sun rises over the Louisiana Gulf Coast, Victor Daniel Silva is already awake. The routine is quiet and steady. Coffee. Gear check. Then the water.

“It’s the same rhythm I grew up with,” he says. “You learn early that the ocean doesn’t wait for you.”

Now in his early 40s, Victor is a commercial fisherman known for consistency and skill. In an industry where conditions change fast, that kind of reliability matters. It’s helped him build a strong reputation in shrimping and crabbing along the Gulf.

But his story didn’t start in Louisiana.

Early Life in Beaufort, North Carolina

Victor was born in Beaufort, North Carolina, a small coastal town where fishing is a way of life. His father, Daniel Silva Sr., worked as a commercial fisherman and introduced Victor to the trade at a young age.

“I was just a kid sitting on the boat, trying to stay out of the way,” Victor recalls. “But I was watching everything.”

Those early mornings left a lasting impression. The sound of the engine. The feel of the salt air. The patience it took to wait for a catch.

At Beaufort High School, Victor wasn’t focused on academics. His strength was hands-on work. While others planned to leave town, he felt pulled toward the water.

“Fishing just made sense to me,” he says. “It wasn’t something I had to think about. I understood it.”

His father taught him more than just technique. He taught him how to read tides, repair nets, and stay calm when conditions turned rough.

“Patience is everything out here,” Victor says. “If you rush, the ocean will remind you real quick who’s in charge.”

Carrying on a Family Legacy

Victor worked side by side with his father for years. Their communication was simple. Often just a look or a short phrase.

After his father passed away, Victor made a choice. He would continue the work.

“You don’t walk away from something like that,” he says. “It’s part of who you are.”

He kept using many of the same tools and methods his father taught him. Even today, some of his gear has been passed down.

“I still start my mornings the same way we used to,” he adds. “It keeps him with me.”

This sense of continuity has shaped Victor’s approach to the business. He values tradition, but he also understands the need to adapt.

Why He Moved to Louisiana for Opportunity

In his late 20s, Victor made a major move. He left North Carolina and relocated to coastal Louisiana.

The decision was driven by opportunity. The Gulf Coast offered strong shrimping and crabbing markets, along with a tight-knit fishing community.

“I wanted to go where the work was steady,” he explains. “Louisiana had that.”

The transition wasn’t easy at first. New waters require new knowledge. Tides, weather patterns, and local systems all differ.

“You have to learn fast,” Victor says. “The water here has its own rules.”

Over time, he adapted. He built relationships with other fishermen and gained a deeper understanding of the Gulf.

That effort paid off. Today, he is known as a dependable and skilled operator in his field.

Daily Life as a Commercial Fisherman

Victor’s work is physically demanding. Days often start before dawn and can stretch long depending on the catch.

Still, he doesn’t complain.

“This is what I signed up for,” he says. “It’s hard work, but it’s honest.”

When he’s not on the water, he’s still working. Equipment needs repair. Nets need mending. Boats need maintenance.

“It doesn’t stop when you dock,” he explains. “That’s just part of the job.”

But there is also balance. Victor values his downtime and the slower pace of coastal life.

“You have to make time to step back,” he says. “Otherwise, the work will take everything.”

A Strong Partnership at Home

At the center of Victor’s life is his wife, Marisol. Her passion for cooking complements his work perfectly.

“She takes what I bring in and turns it into something special,” Victor says.

Marisol is known for her Creole garlic butter shrimp served over grits. The dish uses fresh shrimp straight from Victor’s boat.

“It’s simple ingredients, but it’s all about how you put it together,” Victor explains.

Their home has become a gathering place. Friends and neighbors often stop by, drawn by both the food and the atmosphere.

“You’ll smell it before you even get to the door,” he says with a laugh.

What Makes Victor Silva a Leader in His Industry

Victor doesn’t describe himself as a leader. But others in the fishing community see it differently.

His strength comes from consistency. He shows up. He does the work. He shares knowledge when needed.

“In this business, people notice who they can count on,” he says. “That matters more than anything.”

He also respects the industry. Fishing is unpredictable, and success depends on experience and discipline.

“You don’t control the outcome,” Victor says. “You just control how prepared you are.”

That mindset has helped him build trust over time.

A Life Built on Purpose and Routine

Victor’s life is not flashy. It doesn’t need to be.

He finds satisfaction in the routine. The early mornings. The steady work. The quiet evenings at home.

“At the end of the day, I know I did something real,” he says. “That’s enough for me.”

From Beaufort to Louisiana, his path has been shaped by family, hard work, and a deep respect for the water.

And every morning, before the sun rises, it starts all over again.

Read more:
Victor Daniel Silva: Building a Life on the Gulf Coast

There’s a moment most people who research light therapy eventually hit: you’ve decided the science is real, you’re ready to try it – and then you realize you have to choose between two completely different product formats that nobody bothered to explain in the same place.

On one side: light therapy lamps. Bulky-ish white boxes that sit on your desk and blast bright light at your face while you eat breakfast or work. Decades of clinical evidence. Cost: $40 to $150. On the other: Luminette glasses. A wearable device you wear like a visor during your morning, developed by a Belgian medical tech company with university-backed research. Cost: $200+.

The question isn’t which one looks more impressive. It’s which one actually works – and works for you, specifically, given your routine, your symptoms, and how seriously you’re going to commit to using it.

Here’s the honest comparison.

How Light Therapy Works (and Why the Device Type Matters)

Both formats are trying to do the same thing: deliver therapeutic light to the photoreceptors in your eyes that regulate your circadian rhythm.

Those receptors – intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, or ipRGCs – are most responsive to light in the blue-green spectrum around 480 nm. When they receive a sufficient dose at the right time of day (morning, within an hour or two of waking), they send a signal to the suprachiasmatic nucleus – the brain’s master clock – that initiates the hormonal cascade associated with wakefulness: cortisol rises, melatonin suppresses, body temperature starts climbing.

The biological target is the same for both devices. But how they deliver light to that target differs considerably, and those differences have real consequences for effectiveness, convenience, and who each device actually suits.

Traditional Light Therapy Lamps: What You’re Working With

A standard light therapy lamp is a flat panel or box housing fluorescent or LED elements, typically rated at 10,000 lux at a specific working distance (usually 20–30 cm from your face).

The 10,000 lux figure became the clinical standard based on early SAD research from the 1980s and 90s. Studies found that this intensity, delivered over 20–30 minutes in the morning, produced significant antidepressant effects in SAD patients – effects comparable in magnitude to antidepressant medication in several trials, with faster onset.

That evidence base is genuinely strong. Light therapy boxes have been studied for longer than almost any other non-pharmacological psychiatric intervention, and the data consistently holds up.

In practice, using a lamp looks like this: You sit at a fixed location – usually a desk or kitchen table – with the lamp positioned at roughly eye level, 20–30 cm away. You don’t stare directly at it; you look in its general direction while doing something else. The key constraint is that you need to stay roughly in position for the full session. If you get up to refill your coffee and spend three minutes in the kitchen, that time doesn’t count.

What works well:

Simple, no learning curve
Cheaper entry point ($40–$150 for quality models)
Established clinical evidence base
Effective for most people if used consistently

What doesn’t:

You have to stop and sit for it
Positioning matters – too far away, too off-angle, and the dose drops significantly
Not portable for travel use
Takes up desk or counter space

Luminette Glasses: A Different Approach to the Same Problem

Luminette takes the light therapy intervention and reengineers its delivery method. Instead of a fixed panel, you wear the device – a lightweight visor that positions LED light sources above your line of vision, directing diffuse light slightly downward into your upper visual field.

That angle is intentional. Your ipRGCs are not uniformly distributed across your retina. The cells are most concentrated in the inferior retinal region – which, anatomically, receives light from above your eye line. Natural sunlight enters the eye from above. Luminette’s design matches that geometry rather than throwing light frontally from desk level.

The trade-off: because the device sits close to your eyes and targets the most responsive region, it can deliver a therapeutic dose at 1,500 lux rather than 10,000 lux. The lower intensity number looks like a weakness until you understand why it isn’t – the effective dose reaching the relevant receptors is comparable to what a lamp delivers at its rated intensity.

Lucimed, the Belgian company behind Luminette, conducted their efficacy studies in collaboration with the Sleep and Chronobiology Unit at the University of Liège – one of Europe’s leading circadian research centers. The published results supported equivalent therapeutic outcomes to standard box therapy.

In practice, using Luminette glasses looks like this: You put them on when you wake up, press the button to select your intensity (500, 1,000, or 1,500 lux), and go about your morning. Breakfast, stretching, reading, answering emails – the device works while you move. Sessions are the same 20–30 minutes. The difference is that those 20–30 minutes accumulate naturally rather than requiring dedicated stationary time.

What works well:

Hands-free, mobile use during normal morning activities
Correct retinal angle for light delivery
Portable – works on planes, in hotels, during travel
No dedicated space or setup required

What doesn’t:

Higher price point ($200–$240)
Some people find wearing something on their face mildly uncomfortable at first
Fit varies with prescription glasses – works for most, imperfect for some frames
Less extensive historical evidence base than lamps (though specific clinical studies exist)

Head-to-Head: The Factors That Actually Matter

Effectiveness at treating SAD

On pure efficacy, properly used lamps and properly used Luminette glasses produce comparable outcomes. Both have clinical evidence behind them. The critical qualifier is “properly used” – which brings in consistency, and consistency brings in the format comparison.

If you will genuinely sit in front of a lamp for 20–30 minutes every morning without interruption, a quality lamp will work just as well as Luminette glasses. Many people do exactly this and manage their SAD effectively for years.

The problem is that a significant portion of people who buy light therapy lamps use them inconsistently. They work well for two weeks, then a busy morning breaks the routine, then another, and gradually the lamp migrates to a shelf. The wearable format of Luminette glasses removes the “I don’t have 20 uninterrupted minutes to just sit there” barrier – which for many people is the real obstacle.

Edge: Luminette glasses for people with chaotic mornings. Tie for people who can maintain a structured sitting routine.

Effectiveness for jet lag and shift work

This isn’t close. A lamp is not practical for travel use. You can’t pack a light therapy box in a carry-on and use it in a hotel room at the circadian time your protocol requires. You technically could, but almost nobody does.

Luminette glasses are designed to be used on planes, in airports, in hotel rooms, at any time zone. The Luminette Drive app includes specific jet lag protocols based on your departure city, destination, and flight schedule. This use case is where the glasses format has a decisive advantage – not in effectiveness per session, but in whether you actually use it when you need it most.

Edge: Luminette glasses, unambiguously.

Cost

Lamps win on upfront cost. A solid 10,000 lux lamp from Carex, Verilux, or Lumie runs $40–$100. Luminette 3 costs $200–$240.

Over time, both are low-maintenance purchases with no consumable costs. The question is whether the format premium is justified by the outcome for you specifically. If a lamp works with your routine and you stick to it, you paid $60 and solved your problem. If you buy the lamp and use it twice before it ends up in a cabinet, you paid $60 and solved nothing.

Edge: Lamps for upfront cost. Luminette glasses if the format actually changes your usage consistency.

Portability

No contest. Luminette glasses fit in a jacket pocket. A lamp does not.

Edge: Luminette glasses.

Comfort and ease of use

This one is genuinely personal. Some people find wearing anything on their face for 30 minutes each morning irritating – the glasses are light at 55g, but they’re still there. Others find staring in the general direction of a bright panel mildly oppressive after a while.

First-time light therapy users sometimes find the lamp format more approachable because it’s passive – you just sit near it. The glasses require you to actively put something on, which for some people is one friction point too many in the early morning.

Edge: Subjective. Try each format before committing if you have any doubt.

Light angle and delivery quality

The design of Luminette glasses – delivering light from above the line of vision – is theoretically more aligned with the natural stimulus your ipRGCs evolved to respond to. Whether this translates into measurably better outcomes compared to a well-positioned lamp is not definitively established in head-to-head clinical trials.

What is established is that lamp users need to pay attention to positioning (distance, angle, eye level) in a way that Luminette users don’t. The glasses solve a compliance variable by design.

Edge: Luminette glasses on delivery consistency. Lamps require more careful setup.

The Decision Framework: Which One Should You Get?

Get a light therapy lamp if:

You’re new to light therapy and want to test whether it helps you before spending $200+
You have a consistent morning routine with a fixed breakfast or work location
Budget is a meaningful constraint
You don’t travel frequently enough for portability to matter
You don’t mind sitting still for 20–30 minutes each morning

Get Luminette glasses if:

You travel regularly across time zones and want to manage jet lag actively
Your mornings are variable and you struggle to carve out stationary time
You’ve already tried a lamp and found the format hard to maintain consistently
You’re managing a diagnosed circadian disorder or severe SAD and want the most practical daily-use solution
You work rotating or night shifts and need something that functions in different settings

A Note on “Which Has Better Science”

The framing of “lamps have more research behind them” is technically accurate but somewhat misleading. Light therapy boxes have decades of studies because they were the only practical light therapy format for decades. Luminette glasses have fewer total studies because wearable light therapy is newer.

The mechanism is the same. The target receptor is the same. The dose parameters that matter (intensity at the retina, spectral composition, timing, duration) are consistent between formats. The University of Liège research on Luminette’s format used rigorous methodology and produced results consistent with the broader light therapy literature.

Choosing a lamp over Luminette glasses because “it has more studies” is roughly equivalent to preferring a wired landline over a mobile phone because wired telephony has more historical documentation. The underlying technology is validated; the delivery mechanism is what differs.

Final Verdict

Traditional light therapy lamps are excellent, underrated, and underused. If you commit to using one daily, they work – and the barrier to entry is low enough that almost anyone curious about light therapy should try one first.

Luminette glasses solve a different problem: not “does light therapy work?” but “how do I actually fit light therapy into a real morning?” For people whose answer to that question involves a lot of movement, travel, or variable schedules, they’re worth the price premium. The clinical backing is real, the design rationale is sound, and the device itself is the best wearable version of this intervention currently available.

The worst outcome is buying neither because the comparison felt too complicated. Both formats work. Pick the one that fits your life, use it every morning at the same time, and give it three weeks before drawing conclusions.

Read more:
Luminette Glasses vs Traditional Light Therapy Lamps: Which Works Better?

Rootstack is a Panama-founded software development company that has grown from a small university startup into an international technology partner serving clients across the Americas.

Founded in 2011 by Alejandro Oses, Diego Tejera, and Juan Daniel Flórez after meeting at the Technological University of Panama (UTP), the company was built around a simple idea: use technology to help businesses solve real problems and grow sustainably.

The founders began working from a small room in a family house before moving to an office in City of Knowledge, in Panama City. Early projects with both local and international clients pushed the team to improve quickly and adopt stronger processes, communication standards, and project management practices. Over time, Rootstack expanded its operations into the United States and Colombia while delivering hundreds of software projects across industries including banking, healthcare, government, education, hospitality, and insurance.

Today, Rootstack provides services such as IT staff augmentation, managed teams, managed services, and solution discovery. The company is recognised for combining senior engineering talent, bilingual communication, and structured delivery with ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications focused on quality and security.

Throughout its growth, Rootstack has remained focused on adaptability, continuous learning, and strong internal culture. The company also invests in emerging talent through initiatives designed to help junior professionals gain hands-on experience and build long-term careers in technology.

Q&A With Rootstack Panama

Q: How did Rootstack first begin?

A:
Rootstack started while we were students at the Technological University of Panama. The three founders, Alejandro Oses, Diego Tejera, and Juan Daniel Flórez, wanted to build something of our own instead of following traditional career paths.

At first, it was very simple. We worked from home and took on small web and mobile projects. Later, we moved into a room at a family house so we could work together more efficiently.

One of the founders always talked about building a company that combined technology, software, and services. That idea became the foundation for Rootstack.

Q: What were the biggest challenges during the early years?

A:
One of the biggest challenges was learning how to scale without losing control of quality.

In the early days, a small team can solve problems quickly because everyone talks constantly. Once the team grows, that stops working. We realised this during one project where different developers were handling similar tasks without clear coordination. We ended up redoing part of the work because processes were not clearly defined yet.

That experience forced us to improve communication and create stronger workflows.

We also faced the challenge of competing with larger international companies while operating from Panama. That pushed us to improve our standards very early.

Q: How did working with international clients shape the company?

A:
It changed the way we approached everything.

International clients expected clear communication, faster delivery, and more structured processes. That forced us to become more organised much earlier than we expected.

We remember working with one client that required weekly progress reporting with very detailed updates. At the time, we did not have a formal reporting structure. We had to create one quickly because we understood that trust depended on consistency.

That experience helped us improve project management across the company.

Q: What helped Rootstack grow internationally?

A:
Adaptability played a major role.

Technology changes constantly, so we understood early that learning could never stop. We encouraged our teams to stay curious, experiment with new tools, and improve continuously.

Another important factor was communication. Clients want technical expertise, but they also want reliability and clarity. We focused heavily on responsiveness and transparency.

Over time, that helped us build long-term relationships with companies across industries like banking, healthcare, education, and government.

Q: What lessons did you learn about growing a technology company?

A:
One major lesson was that what works for a small team does not always work for a larger one.

At one stage, we were growing quickly and realised our internal systems were falling behind. Tasks were being duplicated and communication gaps were appearing between teams.

Instead of ignoring the problem, we paused and restructured our processes. We standardised workflows, improved documentation, and clarified responsibilities across teams.

That period was stressful, but it helped us become a more resilient company.

Q: How do you maintain company culture while scaling?

A:
Culture has to be intentional.

As companies grow, it becomes easier for people to feel disconnected. We try to avoid that by creating opportunities for collaboration and recognition.

We organise monthly activities, celebrate employee milestones, and recognise strong performance regularly. Some employees who reached ten years with the company were rewarded with special trips because we wanted to acknowledge their contribution in a meaningful way.

We believe people perform better when they feel supported and connected to the company’s mission.

Q: What qualities matter most in the technology industry today?

A:
Adaptability is probably the most important.

Technical skills matter, but the ability to learn quickly matters even more because the industry changes so fast.

We also value communication, teamwork, and proactivity. Some of the best contributors in technology are people who solve problems before they become larger issues.

One thing we often tell junior professionals is that growth comes from staying curious and being willing to improve continuously.

Q: What motivates Rootstack today?

A:
Helping companies grow through technology is still a major motivation for us, but so is creating opportunities for people.

We are currently developing initiatives like RootLab and our First Work Experience programme,  called “Your First Commit” because we want emerging talent to gain practical experience and stronger foundations in the industry.

Looking back, we started as students trying to build something meaningful. Supporting the next generation feels like a natural extension of that story.

Read more:
Rootstack Panama: From University Startup to International Tech Partner

Working capital – the cash available to cover day-to-day operations – is something most businesses have to actively manage. Payment terms stretch.

Seasonal demand creates gaps. A new contract requires upfront investment before income arrives. When cash flow tightens, a working capital loan can bridge the gap without requiring equity to be raised or long-term debt to be taken on.

The UK market offers a wide range of options – from relationship-led facilities backed by major financial groups to fully digital lenders with same-day decisions and broker platforms that compare dozens of lenders through a single application. The right choice depends on how much you need, how quickly, and what your business’s trading history looks like. Below are five providers worth considering.

1. Novuna Business Cash Flow

Best for: established SMEs looking for a relationship-led facility backed by a major financial group

Novuna Business Cash Flow is part of Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC, one of the UK’s largest leasing and finance groups. That parent company backing gives it significant financial depth and a broad range of product options for UK SMEs.

Novuna’s lending proposition is built around businesses that need structured access to working capital alongside a broader financial relationship. Its working capital loans are designed for established SMEs that need funding to cover operational costs, bridge gaps between invoicing and payment, or support periods of growth or transition.

For businesses that also need faster access to smaller amounts, Novuna offers quick business loans alongside its core working capital lending – meaning clients can access different funding structures depending on the urgency and scale of their requirement.

The business serves a range of sectors including manufacturing, logistics, professional services, and recruitment, and its approach is relationship-led – clients work with a named contact throughout the process.

Who it works for:

Established SMEs looking for a relationship-led working capital loan backed by a major financial group
Businesses that may also need invoice finance or asset-based lending under a single provider relationship
Companies in manufacturing, logistics, recruitment, or professional services
Those that want a structured, relationship-managed facility with a dedicated point of contact

2. Funding Circle

Best for: UK limited companies wanting a fixed-rate loan with a fast online decision

Funding Circle was founded in 2010 and has helped more than 125,000 UK businesses borrow £17 billion to date. It has worked with the British Business Bank since 2013, including as one of the largest providers of Growth Guarantee Scheme-backed loans.

Its working capital loan product offers borrowing from £10,000 to £750,000 at fixed rates from 6.9% per year. Fixed-rate pricing means monthly repayments are predictable for the duration of the term, which suits businesses that want to budget with certainty. There are no fees for early repayment.

The application process is designed to be straightforward – businesses can check their eligibility in 30 seconds without affecting their credit score, complete a full online application in around seven minutes, and receive a decision in as little as one hour. Funds are typically paid out within 48 hours of accepting an offer.

To be eligible, applicants need to be a UK limited company. Funding Circle’s underwriting considers the business’s financial profile and credit history to determine the rate offered.

Who it works for:

UK limited companies looking for a fixed-rate working capital loan between £10,000 and £750,000
Businesses that want a fast, fully online application with a decision in as little as one hour
Those that value predictable fixed monthly repayments and no early repayment fees
Companies looking for Growth Guarantee Scheme-backed lending options

3. iwoca

Best for: businesses that want flexible borrowing with interest charged only on what they draw

iwoca has lent to more than 100,000 businesses across the UK since its founding in 2012, with over £4 billion in credit advanced to date.

Its working capital loan – the Flexi-Loan – allows businesses to borrow from £1,000 to £1,000,000 on terms from one day to 60 months. Interest is charged only on the amount drawn and for the time it is held, rather than on the total facility. There are no early repayment fees, which means businesses that pay down a loan ahead of schedule will pay less overall.

Applications are completed online and decisions are typically made within 24 hours. The minimum requirement to apply is six months of trading history, and eligibility is assessed based on the business’s financial data, which can be shared through accounting software integrations.

iwoca’s loan can be used for any working capital purpose – payroll, stock, tax obligations, supplier payments, or covering short-term cash flow gaps – without restrictions on use.

Who it works for:

Businesses that have been trading for at least six months and want flexible access to between £1,000 and £1,000,000
Those that want to pay interest only on what they draw and for the time they hold it
Companies that prefer a fully digital application and decision process
Businesses that want no early repayment fees and the option to repay ahead of schedule

4. Fleximize

Best for: businesses that want repayment holidays and top-up flexibility built into the loan as standard

Fleximize has provided funding to thousands of UK SMEs since its launch in 2014, offering working capital loans of between £10,000 and £500,000 on terms of 3 to 60 months. Interest rates start from 0.9% per month.

Repayment holidays – periods during which repayments can be paused – and top-ups (additional borrowing on top of an existing loan) are available as standard features rather than exceptions requiring separate applications. There are no early repayment penalties, and interest is charged only for the period the loan is held.

Eligibility criteria include a minimum of six months’ trading history and a minimum monthly turnover of £5,000. Loans are available on both unsecured and secured bases, with unsecured borrowing up to £250,000 and secured up to £500,000 for businesses in England and Wales. Applications are completed online and a decision can typically be reached within 24 hours.

Each applicant is assigned a dedicated relationship manager who handles the application and remains the point of contact for any subsequent lending.

Who it works for:

UK limited companies and LLPs with at least six months’ trading and £5,000+ monthly turnover
Businesses that want repayment holidays and top-up flexibility built into the loan as standard
Those that want an unsecured working capital loan of up to £250,000 without pledging assets
Companies that prefer working with a named relationship manager throughout the process

5. Tide (Funding Options)

Best for: businesses that want to compare options across a broad lender network through a single application

Tide operates Funding Options, a lending marketplace that connects UK businesses to more than 80 lenders through a single application. Rather than lending directly, Tide matches businesses to credit options from across its lender network based on the business’s profile and funding requirement.

Through the platform, businesses can access working capital loans, revolving credit facilities, invoice finance, asset finance, and other products – with borrowing available from £1,000 up to £20 million depending on the product and lender. Tide has provided more than £1.6 billion in funding to over 43,000 UK businesses. Eligibility checks use a soft credit search, meaning they do not affect a business’s credit score.

The platform is accessible through the Tide app, which also provides business current account services. Once a business submits its details and funding requirement, Tide’s team reviews the application and presents matched credit options from across the lender network. Depending on the product and lender, funding can be available within approximately 24 hours.

The marketplace model means businesses can compare options from multiple lenders without making separate applications to each – which can be useful for businesses that want to understand the range of products and rates available to them before committing.

Who it works for:

Businesses that want to compare working capital loan options across a broad lender network in a single application
Those that want access to a wide range of products – from term loans to revolving credit – in one place
Companies that already use Tide for business banking and want to manage lending in the same platform
Businesses of varying sizes, given the wide range of amounts available across the network

Key questions to ask before taking a working capital loan

When approaching working capital loan providers, businesses should consider the following before committing:

What is the total cost of borrowing? Request a worked example showing the total amount repaid, not just the headline rate. Factor in arrangement fees, early repayment terms, and whether interest compounds.
What are the eligibility requirements? Minimum trading history and turnover thresholds vary significantly between providers. Confirm these before investing time in an application.
Is the loan secured or unsecured? Unsecured loans are faster to arrange but may carry higher rates. Secured loans require collateral and a longer process but may offer better terms for larger amounts.
What flexibility is built in? Check whether the facility allows early repayment, top-ups, or repayment holidays – and whether these features come at an additional cost.
How quickly are funds available? If the requirement is urgent, confirm the time from application to funds in account. This varies considerably between providers.

Conclusion

Working capital loans are a practical and widely available tool for UK businesses managing short-term cash flow gaps or funding operational growth. The five providers above cover a range of approaches – from relationship-led facilities backed by major financial groups, to fully digital lenders with same-day decisions, to broker platforms that give access to dozens of lenders through a single application. The right choice depends on the size of the requirement, how quickly funds are needed, the business’s trading history, and whether flexibility in repayment is a priority.

It is worth comparing more than one provider before committing. Most lenders can provide an indicative cost illustration without affecting your credit score – and comparing those on a like-for-like basis is the most reliable way to assess total value.

The content of this article is provided for general information only and should not be relied upon as financial advice. Businesses should take independent advice before committing to any finance product.

Read more:
Top Working Capital Loan Providers (UK)

The UK landline shutdown that telecoms providers have been warning about for years is no longer a future event. With Openreach now well into the PSTN switch-off programme and analogue lines being decommissioned across the country, every business still on a traditional phone system is on a clock.

For SMEs running on existing landline contracts, switching to a VoIP business phone system isn’t an optional upgrade — it’s a deadline. The question isn’t whether to switch, but which provider to switch to and whether to lock into a multi-year contract while doing it.

The market has matured significantly since the last wave of VoIP adoption in 2019-2021. Providers now compete on AI-driven features (call transcription, CRM integration, live analytics) rather than basic VoIP capability, and the UK SME market has fragmented into providers that lean toward long-term contracts versus a smaller group offering monthly rolling subscriptions. This guide reviews the most relevant business VoIP phone systems available to UK SMEs in 2026, what each one is built for, and which kind of business each one actually suits.

How this list was compiled

Each provider below was assessed against four criteria UK business buyers actually care about: contract structure (rolling monthly vs. multi-year lock-in), AI and CRM integration capabilities (call transcription, live analytics, integration depth), pricing transparency for SME budgets, and signal of real adoption across UK businesses. Pricing reflects published rates at time of writing, and providers without verifiable UK presence were excluded.

Comparison snapshot

Provider
Contract type
Standout feature
Best for
Starting price

Devyce
Rolling monthly
AI call summaries + 15+ CRM integrations native
UK SMEs and recruitment teams wanting AI features without lock-in
From £35/user/mo

bOnline
12-36 month contracts
UK SMB-focused, simple setup
Microbusinesses wanting low-cost basic VoIP
From £6/mo

Vonage Business Cloud
12-month contracts
Strong international calling
Businesses with significant international call volume
From £8/mo

RingCentral
12-month minimum
Mature platform with full UC features
Established SMEs needing unified comms
From £8/mo

8×8
Annual contracts
Enterprise-grade contact centre features
Larger SMEs and contact centre operations
From £12/mo

Dialpad
Annual contracts
AI Voice Intelligence
Sales teams wanting AI conversation analytics
From £12/mo

Voipfone
Flexible terms
UK-only specialist
UK SMEs preferring a UK-only provider
From £3/mo

GoTo Connect
Annual contracts
Combined voice and video conferencing
SMEs wanting voice and meetings in one platform
From £20/mo

Gamma
Contract-based
Established UK telecoms infrastructure
Larger SMEs wanting traditional telecoms support model
Contact for pricing

1. Devyce — AI-native business phone system with no contracts

Devyce is one of the few business voip phone systems that has built around two genuinely modern positions: AI-driven features as a default rather than a paid add-on, and rolling monthly subscriptions rather than the multi-year contracts that have historically defined business telecoms. For UK SMEs that have watched neighbouring businesses get trapped in 36-month bOnline or Vonage contracts they outgrew within a year, that combination addresses the two most-cited frustrations with traditional business VoIP procurement in one product. Devyce starts at £35 per user per month on the Essentials plan, with Enhanced at £49 and custom Enterprise pricing for larger organisations.

The AI side of the platform handles what most UK SMEs would otherwise pay separately for. AI Summary, AI Questions, and AI-Suggested CRM Updates run during and after calls — automatically summarising conversations, extracting answers to specific questions about call content, and writing structured updates back into the CRM. Call transcriptions are included as standard on every plan rather than gated behind a premium tier, which is unusual in the UK SME VoIP market. The CRM integrations list reflects where Devyce has gained traction: 15+ integrations including JobAdder, Bullhorn, Vincere, and HubSpot are first-class connections, which is why the platform has built a meaningful following in UK recruitment specifically, alongside maritime, professional services, and hybrid-team SMEs.

The plan structure is built around how SMEs actually grow. The Essentials plan covers small teams at £35/user/month with 600 UK calls and 300 SMS per month, one number per user, and the full AI summary and CRM integration stack. The Enhanced plan at £49 adds unlimited calling, live call monitoring and whispering (the supervisor-coaching feature most useful to sales and recruitment teams), API access for custom integrations, and a second number per user. Both plans run on rolling monthly subscriptions with no minimum contract length — only a three-user minimum on team plans. The Enterprise tier moves to custom pricing for larger organisations needing centralised billing, smart call routing, and custom CRM integrations.

Devyce sits at a higher entry price than the budget UK competitors (bOnline at £6, Voipfone at £3), but the comparison is misleading because the budget providers don’t include the AI, CRM, and call analysis features as standard. For UK SMEs that would otherwise buy a basic VoIP plan plus a separate AI transcription tool plus CRM integration middleware, Devyce’s bundled pricing typically works out cheaper across the full stack — and the rolling monthly model means businesses scale users up and down as headcount changes without renegotiation friction.

Best for: UK SMEs (particularly recruitment, professional services, and hybrid teams) wanting AI-native features and CRM integration without multi-year contract lock-in. Standout feature: AI Summary, AI Questions, and AI-Suggested CRM Updates as standard on every plan — plus call transcriptions and 15+ CRM integrations. Notable integrations: JobAdder, Bullhorn, Vincere, HubSpot (15+ total). Pricing: From £35 per user per month (Essentials) on rolling monthly subscriptions. Enhanced £49, Enterprise custom.

2. bOnline — UK SMB-focused VoIP at the entry-level price point

bOnline has built one of the most-recognised UK VoIP brands by focusing tightly on microbusinesses and SMEs at the entry-level price point. The platform handles the VoIP basics cleanly — call routing, voicemail, multi-device access, hold music, opening hours — and the pricing is genuinely accessible at £6/month for the entry plan. For a sole trader or microbusiness moving off a landline for the first time, bOnline is one of the lowest-friction options on the UK market.

The trade-off sits in the contract structure and feature ceiling. bOnline typically signs customers to 12-36 month contracts at the entry pricing, and the AI and integration features that mid-sized businesses increasingly expect aren’t part of the core offering. For businesses that need a basic phone system and will stay in that bracket, the trade is fair; for businesses likely to outgrow the basics within 18 months, the contract length is the bigger cost than the headline rate suggests.

Best for: UK microbusinesses and sole traders moving off landlines for the first time. Standout feature: Lowest entry pricing on the UK SME VoIP market. Pricing: From £6 per user per month.

3. Vonage Business Cloud — international calling specialist

Vonage has built a strong position with UK businesses that have meaningful international calling volume — exporters, multinational SMEs, companies with international clients. The international calling rates are competitive and the platform supports global numbers across major markets, making the pricing model work out cheaper than UK-only providers for businesses where international call costs are a material P&L line. For primarily UK-focused businesses, the international features add complexity without delivering corresponding value.

Best for: UK SMEs with significant international calling requirements. Standout feature: Competitive international calling rates with global number availability. Pricing: From £8 per user per month.

4. RingCentral — full unified communications platform

RingCentral is one of the most mature unified communications platforms on the market, combining voice, video, messaging, and integrations into a single platform. The UK SME proposition is strongest for businesses that have outgrown basic VoIP and want everything (calls, video meetings, team messaging, CRM integration) in one tool rather than across three separate subscriptions. RingCentral’s integration list is one of the deepest in the category, covering most of the major CRM, helpdesk, and productivity tools UK businesses run.

The trade-off is complexity and price. RingCentral is overkill for microbusinesses and overlapping for businesses already running Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace for video and messaging. For established SMEs at 20-200 employees that want unified communications without the enterprise platform overhead, it’s a strong fit.

Best for: Established UK SMEs (20-200 employees) wanting unified comms in one platform. Standout feature: Deep integration ecosystem across CRM, helpdesk, and productivity tools. Pricing: From £8 per user per month.

5. 8×8 — contact centre capabilities for larger SMEs

8×8 sits at the higher end of the SME VoIP market with contact-centre-grade capabilities that make sense for businesses where the phone system is a meaningful customer service or sales channel rather than just internal communication. Advanced call routing, queue management, supervisor monitoring, and detailed analytics are part of the core proposition rather than enterprise upgrades, making it one of the strongest mid-market options for SMEs running formal contact centre operations or customer-facing teams of 20+ agents. For SMEs using the phone system primarily for internal and ad-hoc external calls, the contact centre features add cost without commensurate value.

Best for: Larger UK SMEs with formal contact centre operations or customer service teams. Standout feature: Contact centre features at SME-accessible pricing. Pricing: From £12 per user per month.

6. Dialpad — AI conversation analytics for sales teams

Dialpad has built around AI Voice Intelligence — real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, post-call summaries, and action item extraction. The proposition is strongest for sales teams treating the phone system as a measurable revenue channel rather than a general communication tool, where the AI layer delivers operational data on call quality, objection patterns, and rep performance. For SMEs whose phone system is primarily general business communication, the AI features are useful but not differentiating, and Dialpad’s pricing reflects its sales-team positioning at a premium within the mid-market band.

Best for: Sales teams treating the phone system as a measurable revenue channel. Standout feature: AI Voice Intelligence with sentiment analysis and call coaching outputs. Pricing: From £12 per user per month.

7. Voipfone — UK-only specialist provider

Voipfone is one of the longest-established UK VoIP providers, focused on UK-only SMEs wanting a domestic specialist rather than a global platform. Entry pricing is among the lowest in the UK market (from £3/month) and the support model is UK-based and well-regarded in the SME community. The platform is feature-light by modern UC standards — Voipfone handles VoIP cleanly but doesn’t compete with the AI-native or full-UC propositions. For UK-only SMEs wanting a domestic provider at low cost without needing AI features or deep CRM integration, it’s a credible option.

Best for: UK-only SMEs prioritising a domestic specialist provider at low cost. Standout feature: Lowest entry pricing among reputable UK VoIP providers. Pricing: From £3 per user per month.

8. GoTo Connect — voice and video in one platform

GoTo Connect bundles VoIP, video conferencing, and messaging into a single platform, aimed at SMEs wanting to consolidate phone and video meeting subscriptions. For businesses running Zoom or Microsoft Teams separately from their VoIP provider, the bundled approach can deliver real cost savings. The trade-off is feature depth — GoTo Connect’s voice and video are both solid rather than category-leading, so businesses prioritising either capability specifically often find dedicated tools deliver more. For SMEs treating voice and video as commodity utilities that should be consolidated, the bundle works.

Best for: SMEs wanting to consolidate voice and video conferencing into one platform. Standout feature: Bundled voice, video, and messaging in one subscription. Pricing: From £20 per user per month.

9. Gamma — established UK telecoms infrastructure provider

Gamma is one of the established names in UK business telecoms, with a strong position serving larger SMEs and mid-market businesses wanting a traditional telecoms relationship model — account management, scheduled reviews, infrastructure-grade SLAs — rather than a self-service SaaS product. The technology is solid, the support model fits businesses preferring named account management to chat-based support, and pricing reflects the heavier service overhead. Procurement involves sales conversations rather than self-service signups. For larger SMEs preferring the established UK telecoms relationship model, Gamma is the natural choice; for businesses wanting modern self-serve VoIP, it’s a different category entirely.

Best for: Larger UK SMEs preferring an established UK telecoms relationship model. Standout feature: Account management and SLAs at infrastructure-grade levels. Pricing: Contact Gamma for current pricing.

How to choose the right business VoIP phone system

The right provider depends on business size, contract appetite, AI requirements, and the kind of buyer experience the business wants from its telecoms vendor.

Start with the contract question. It’s the single most important variable and the one most procurement processes underweight. Twelve-to-thirty-six-month contracts at low entry pricing look attractive on day one and frustrating by month fifteen, particularly for SMEs whose headcount changes meaningfully across that period. Rolling monthly contracts cost slightly more on the headline rate but deliver flexibility that becomes valuable the moment business circumstances change. For SMEs going through any kind of growth, restructure, or hybrid-work transition, the contract flexibility usually outweighs the headline-rate saving across a three-year window.

Match the AI features to actual use. AI-driven features (transcription, sentiment analysis, CRM integration) are genuinely transformative for sales teams, customer service operations, and recruitment businesses where conversation quality is a measurable input to revenue. They’re useful-but-not-essential for general business communications. SMEs paying for AI features they don’t use are common — the discipline is to honestly assess whether the team will actually act on call insights or whether the AI layer is theatre.

Check the CRM integration depth, not just the integration list. Every VoIP provider claims CRM integration. What matters is whether the integration writes call records back to the CRM automatically (the useful version) or whether it just provides a click-to-dial button from the CRM (the trivial version). For recruitment, sales, and professional services SMEs, deep two-way CRM integration is a meaningful operational lift; for businesses that don’t run their operations from a CRM, it’s irrelevant.

Audit the support model. UK SMEs vary widely in their preferred support relationship. Some operators want 24/7 chat-based self-service; others want a named account manager and quarterly business reviews. Both are valid; the friction comes from mismatched expectations. Modern VoIP providers (Devyce, RingCentral, Dialpad) typically run self-service support with optional account management; established UK telecoms (Gamma, parts of Vonage’s UK business) lean more toward named account relationships. Match the model the business actually prefers operating against.

Don’t optimise purely for entry price. Headline rate is a poor proxy for total cost of ownership across a three-year window. A £3-£8 entry-tier provider often delivers basic VoIP only, requiring separate subscriptions for AI transcription (typically £15-£25/user/month), CRM middleware (£10-£20/user/month), and call analytics — meaning the all-in cost lands at £30-£50/user/month for a fragmented stack. Mid-tier providers at £15-£35/user/month that bundle AI, CRM integration, and call records into the core platform often work out cheaper across the full stack, with the added benefit of one vendor rather than three. The cheapest entry-tier provider is rarely the cheapest provider across three years once the team starts needing modern features.

Frequently asked questions

What is a business VoIP phone system? A business VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system makes and receives calls over the internet rather than traditional phone lines. Modern business VoIP systems typically include call routing, voicemail, multi-device access, video conferencing, CRM integration, and increasingly AI-driven features like call transcription and analytics.

Will the UK landline shutdown force every business to switch to VoIP? Yes, in practical terms. Openreach is decommissioning the legacy PSTN network through 2027, and analogue and ISDN lines are being switched off region by region. Every UK business currently on a traditional landline will need to move to either VoIP or a similar digital phone system before their local exchange’s switch-off date.

How much does business VoIP cost in the UK in 2026? Entry-tier UK VoIP providers start at £3-8 per user per month. Mid-market unified communications platforms run £8-15 per user per month. Enterprise and contact centre features push pricing to £15-30 per user per month. Most UK SMEs end up at £8-15 per user per month for a feature-complete business phone system.

Can a business keep its existing phone numbers when switching to VoIP? Yes. UK number portability rules require providers to support porting in geographic, non-geographic, and mobile numbers from existing providers. Most VoIP providers handle porting as part of the onboarding process at no extra charge, typically taking 1-3 weeks depending on the source provider.

Are VoIP business phone systems secure? Modern VoIP providers run encryption on calls and data, support multi-factor authentication, and meet UK and EU data protection requirements. As with any internet-based service, security is partly the provider’s responsibility (encryption, infrastructure security) and partly the business’s (password discipline, access management). Reputable UK VoIP providers handle the provider side competently; the business needs to handle access discipline.

Closing thoughts

The UK business VoIP market in 2026 splits into three meaningful groups: AI-native providers like Devyce and Dialpad that have built around modern features as defaults rather than upgrades; established platform providers like RingCentral, 8×8, and Vonage that lead on unified communications depth; and traditional UK telecoms specialists like bOnline, Voipfone, and Gamma that compete on UK-specific service models and pricing. For UK SMEs prioritising AI features and contract flexibility, Devyce is the most direct fit; for SMEs that want full unified communications, RingCentral or 8×8 are stronger options; for microbusinesses on tight budgets, bOnline and Voipfone are credible entry-level choices. The single most important decision isn’t which provider, but whether to lock into a long-term contract or stay on a rolling monthly model — and the answer to that question shapes the shortlist as much as feature requirements do.

Read more:
Best Business VoIP Phone Systems in 2026

Britain’s biggest business organisations have closed ranks against a wave of antisemitism sweeping the country, with 40 trade bodies and employer groups signing a joint letter pledging to root out anti-Jewish prejudice from the nation’s workplaces.

The intervention, co-ordinated by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), lands at a politically charged moment. It coincides with a stark warning from Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who told MPs in a letter revealed this week that “British Jews are not currently safe in their capital city”, a phrase that has reverberated through Westminster, the City and Britain’s small business community alike.

“We, as leaders from across the UK business community, unreservedly condemn antisemitism in all its forms,” the signatories said in the letter, published by the British Chambers of Commerce. Signatories have agreed to speak up against antisemitism, adopt a zero-tolerance approach to it in the workplace, embed antisemitism within racism and inclusion training, and provide tailored support for Jewish employees.

A rare show of unity fromBbritain’s ‘B5’

The breadth of the coalition is striking. Alongside the BCC and CBI, the letter has been signed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the Institute of Directors (IoD) and ADS Group, which represents more than 1,700 UK firms in the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors. After three years of public splits between the so-called “B5” business lobby groups, particularly in the wake of the CBI’s 2023 crisis, this is the broadest joint statement the sector has produced on a social policy issue in recent memory.

Shevaun Haviland, director-general of the BCC, said: “The rise in antisemitism is deeply concerning and demands a clear, collective response. This letter is the starting point … by acting together, business can be a powerful force for good.”

Kevin Craven, chief executive of ADS Group, was among those who described antisemitism bluntly as racism and “a daily experience” for Jewish people living and working in Britain.

Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the FSB, and Jonathan Geldart, director-general of the IoD, said they were taking a stand for the “sake of our Jewish colleagues and friends” and for the “health of our society”. Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, described antisemitism as “abhorrent”, adding: “The breadth of organisations backing this statement reflects the strength of feeling across the business community. Inclusive workplaces are vital for individuals, for businesses and for the success of our economy.”

‘Not currently safe’: Rowley’s warning to MP’s

The corporate intervention follows a sharp deterioration in community safety. Sir Mark Rowley’s letter to MPs on the home affairs select committee referenced “a sustained period of attack” on Jewish Londoners over the past six weeks, including the declaration of a terrorist incident in Golders Green, northwest London, after two men suffered stab wounds just over a fortnight ago. The Met has since launched 11 counter-terrorism investigations and made 35 arrests, while a new 100-strong community protection team has been stood up.

The King met victims of last month’s stabbings the same day Rowley’s warning emerged, a juxtaposition that has sharpened the political pressure on government and on employers to demonstrate visible action rather than mere words.

From boardroom statements to workplace culture

For Business Matters readers, particularly the owner-managers of the UK’s 5.5 million small and medium-sized firms, the practical question is what zero tolerance actually looks like in a payroll of 10, 50 or 250 people. Employment lawyers expect the letter to accelerate three trends already evident in HR departments: the explicit naming of antisemitism within diversity training (rather than its absorption into a generic anti-racism module), the development of complaints procedures sensitive to Jewish identity and religious practice, and tougher action on social media conduct that strays into anti-Jewish stereotypes.

Those shifts dovetail with a wider regulatory direction of travel. Ministers have already used the Employment Rights Bill to ban non-disclosure agreements that silence victims of harassment and discrimination, narrowing the room for employers to settle complaints quietly. Surveys from the sector continue to suggest that British firms are still failing to measure their impact on diversity and inclusion in any meaningful way, a data gap that is likely to come under fresh scrutiny following this week’s declaration.

The letter is part of growing momentum in industry. Peter Kyle, the business secretary, hosted a roundtable on antisemitism with senior business leaders this week. “I’m pleased to see workplaces begin to discuss the action they can take to combat this hatred,” he said. “Businesses have a crucial role to play in facing this challenge head-on.”

A BCC spokesperson described tackling antisemitism in the workplace as a “shared responsibility”, citing concern at the “increased experience” of antisemitism reported by Jewish employees. For owner-managers weighing how to operationalise the pledge, the practical playbook for building diversity, equity and inclusion into SME growth plans offers a useful starting point, but specialists caution that antisemitism, with its distinct history and contemporary tropes, demands its own dedicated lens rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Whether the joint letter marks a genuine inflection point or a familiar cycle of statements followed by drift will be judged by what changes inside the country’s offices, factory floors and shop counters over the coming year. With the Met openly conceding that Britain’s Jewish citizens are not yet safe in their own capital, employers may find that the cost of inaction has rarely been higher.

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UK business chiefs unite to combat workplace antisemitism as Met chief warns jews ‘not safe’ in London

The billionaire chairman of JCB has warned that ministers risk provoking a public revolt over Britain’s spiralling £333.7 billion welfare bill, accusing Westminster of “conning” taxpayers by allowing some claimants to pocket as much as £60,000 a year without working.

In an unusually pointed intervention from one of Britain’s most prominent industrialists, Lord Bamford said the country could not “carry on conning the people for so long” and warned that voter patience with the benefits system was wearing dangerously thin.

“I don’t think you can get away with people on welfare getting up to £60,000 a year and not working for it. I just don’t think you can, in the end,” the JCB chairman told The Telegraph. “You could end up with a lot of people revolting or giving up entirely, and then what does that do to our economy? The economy really does depend on people working and us producing things.”

The intervention from the Staffordshire-based digger maker — a bellwether for British heavy industry and a barometer for SME sentiment in the Midlands manufacturing belt — comes as the welfare debate rapidly shifts from Westminster wonkery to kitchen-table politics.

A bill that has overtaken income tax

The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the government to spend £333.7 billion on welfare in the current fiscal year, eclipsing the £331 billion raised through income tax receipts last year. It is the first time in modern British fiscal history that the welfare line has overtaken the single largest source of tax revenue, and the OBR projects the bill will reach more than £406 billion by 2030-31 if left unchecked.

For business owners already grappling with higher employer National Insurance contributions, a tighter labour market and the rising cost of statutory sick pay, the imbalance is fast becoming a political flashpoint. Several recent reports have charted a record surge in long-term sickness claims, with 2.8 million working-age Britons now signed off, a structural drag on productivity that economists say is feeding directly into stagnant growth.

The Blair Institute warning

Bamford’s intervention echoes findings from the Tony Blair Institute, which in April warned that public tolerance for the existing system had collapsed almost everywhere in the country. YouGov polling commissioned by the institute found that in all but five of Britain’s 634 parliamentary constituencies, voters believed the welfare system was “too easy to access and does not do enough to prevent misuse” rather than “too strict”.

The think tank has called for an “emergency handbrake” on welfare spending, including the creation of a new statutory category of “non-work-limiting conditions” covering anxiety, stress-related disorders and certain musculoskeletal complaints. Business Matters previously detailed how the institute’s proposals could slow the runaway sickness benefits bill, which is on track to hit £78 billion before the end of the decade.

Bamford’s political weight

Lord Bamford has chaired JCB, the digger manufacturer founded by his late father, since 1975. The Bamford family has donated more than £10 million to the Conservative Party over the past two decades, making it one of the most consequential financial backers of the British centre right.

But the family’s allegiance has begun to fracture. In November, JCB confirmed it had given £200,000 to both the Conservatives and Reform UK, the first time the company had backed Nigel Farage’s insurgent party. The shift, first reported by Business Matters, is widely interpreted in Westminster as a signal that traditional Tory donors are hedging their bets ahead of what is expected to be a bruising electoral cycle.

A warning shot against the left

Bamford was equally unsparing about the prospect of a sharper turn to the left under Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, suggesting that the country had little appetite for a return to 1970s-style state intervention.

“Do people really want to turn further left, with the country nationalising businesses?” he asked. “I lived through that. I lived through Wilson’s governments, I lived through three-day weeks. I remember it, and I’m not sure that is ever the right solution for Britain.”

For Britain’s small and medium-sized employers, the constituency that JCB has historically represented in industrial policy debates, the message is unambiguous. With the welfare bill overtaking income tax, sickness claims accelerating and confidence in the system collapsing across constituency lines, the political space for radical reform is widening fast. Whether ministers seize it before voters reach Bamford’s predicted breaking point is now the central fiscal question facing both Downing Street and the next general election.

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JCB chairman Lord Bamford warns ministers face public revolt over £333bn welfare bill