Business

Disposable income has fallen for the fourth month in a row, with new data revealing that one in five UK households can no longer afford to cover their weekly essential bills — piling pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves just days before her tax-raising Budget.

The latest Asda Income Tracker, compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), shows that low- and middle-income families — who make up 60% of all UK households — continue to face shrinking spending power as wage growth fails to keep pace with rising taxes and essential costs.

Households in the lowest income quintile, earning an average of £11,000 a year, ended October with a £74 weekly shortfall, 7% worse than last year. Those in the second-lowest bracket had just £10 left after essentials, a deterioration of 17% year on year. Middle-income families (£41,000 average) were left with £90 — a marginal fall of 1%.

By contrast, the wealthiest 20% of households ended the week with £909 of discretionary income, up 2% on last year, illustrating the widening divide in household resilience as inflation and tax pressures mount.

The tracker shows essential costs rose 4.6% year on year, driven by food, housing and utilities — categories that account for a disproportionately large share of expenditure among lower-income families. Younger households face the greatest squeeze: those under 30 spend 69% of gross income on essential items, largely due to soaring rental costs.

The warning comes as unemployment hits 5%, labour market conditions weaken and Reeves prepares to unveil a Budget expected to include further fiscal tightening to address a £20 billion shortfall.

Sam Miley, head of forecasting at Cebr, said the outlook remained fragile despite easing inflation.
“Worse-than-expected labour market figures for September show weakened demand and rising employment costs,” he said. “Prospects for the UK economy are not helped by the high likelihood of fiscal contraction in the November Budget.”

Monthly disposable income dipped again in October, falling by £1.01 from September, with average household purchasing power now standing at £253 per week — the same level recorded last December.

Gross household income grew by 3.6%, slightly slower than the previous month. Those aged 30–49 recorded the highest average income at £1,384 per week, followed by those 50–64 at £1,264.

Economists warn that lower earners face further pain over the Christmas period as living costs remain elevated, while any tax rises in Wednesday’s Budget risk intensifying pressures on already vulnerable households.

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Disposable income falls for fourth consecutive month as one in five Brits can’t cover essential bills ahead of Reeves’ Budget

The government is facing renewed pressure to strengthen online safety laws after rejecting key recommendations designed to curb the viral spread of misinformation, despite agreeing with most of MPs’ findings on the scale of the problem.

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee today published the government and Ofcom’s responses to its July report, which concluded that the Online Safety Act (OSA) does not tackle the algorithmic amplification of false content and leaves users exposed to rapidly spreading misinformation — much of it supercharged by generative AI.

Both the government and Ofcom accepted the committee’s assessment that misinformation poses significant risks, yet ministers declined to adopt several major recommendations, including calls to extend online safety legislation to explicitly cover generative AI platforms. The committee argued such platforms are capable of spreading large volumes of false content and should be regulated in line with other high-risk online services.

The government rejected that proposal, insisting AI-generated content is already covered under the OSA — a position that contradicts Ofcom’s earlier testimony to the committee, in which the regulator said the legal status of generative AI was “not entirely clear” and suggested more work was needed.

MPs also warned that misinformation cannot be meaningfully addressed without confronting the digital advertising business models that incentivise social media companies to promote harmful content. The government acknowledged the link between advertising and amplification but refused to commit to reform, instead saying the issue would be kept “under review”.

Committee chair Dame Chi Onwurah MP criticised the government’s reluctance to take action. “If the government and Ofcom agree with our conclusions, why stop short of adopting our recommendations?” she said. “The committee is not convinced by the argument that the OSA already covers generative AI. The technology is evolving far faster than the legislation, and more will clearly need to be done.”

She added that failure to tackle the monetisation of harmful content leaves a major loophole: “Without addressing the advertising-based models that incentivise platforms to algorithmically amplify misinformation, how can we stop it?”

Onwurah warned that complacency poses real risks to public safety. “It is only a matter of time until the misinformation-fuelled 2024 summer riots are repeated,” she said. “The government urgently needs to plug the gaps in the Online Safety Act before further harm occurs.”

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Government risks further harm if it fails to act on viral misinformation, MPs warn

Leading employers and workplace wellbeing experts have urged the government not to sideline employee health and productivity reforms, warning that rising unemployment and growing fiscal pressures make action more urgent than ever.

At a meeting of the Policy Liaison Group on Workplace Wellbeing on 21 November – chaired by Gethin Nadin and led by renowned psychologist Professor Sir Cary Cooper – participants agreed that the recommendations in Sir Charlie Mayfield’s recent Keep Britain Working review must be rapidly converted into policy and practice. Unemployment has now reached 5%, and many businesses fear next week’s Budget will tighten the screw further.

Speakers drew parallels between Mayfield’s review and Cooper’s own 2008 Mental Capital and Wellbeing Review, noting how little progress has been made in embedding wellbeing into business strategy despite a strong evidence base linking employee health to productivity, retention and economic performance.

The group warned that the UK risks repeating historic mistakes by treating wellbeing initiatives as optional extras rather than core productivity drivers, especially at a time when employers are already facing rising taxes, labour market instability and soaring energy costs.

A central criticism was the lack of infrastructure needed to support meaningful change. Experts said frameworks for measuring wellbeing, modern internal surveys, standardised reporting processes and support for SMEs were essential. Smaller firms, which employ the majority of the UK workforce, often lack the tools and resources to manage health and wellbeing strategically.

Participants also stressed that ownership of wellbeing cannot sit solely within HR or compliance teams. Instead, it must be embedded across leadership, management and organisational culture. Promoting managers based on emotional intelligence as well as technical competence was seen as key to creating psychologically safe, high-performing workplaces capable of early intervention and sustained support.

With businesses still feeling the impact of last year’s National Insurance rise and bracing for possible changes to salary sacrifice schemes, contributors urged the government to consider tax relief and financial incentives to help employers build and maintain wellbeing systems.

Sir Cary Cooper said the UK’s long-standing productivity problem will not improve without addressing workforce health. “If we build the systems that allow organisations to measure, track and improve wellbeing, we will have healthier people, stronger workplaces and much better productivity across the economy,” he said.

Gethin Nadin argued that current expectations of employers are unrealistic. “Public health is a core function of the state, not a corporate add-on,” he said. “Expecting employers to shoulder growing elements of the welfare state — without structural support or meaningful financial incentives — is not sustainable.”

Other contributors raised concerns about rising financial stress among employees, the impact of taxable healthcare benefits on take-home pay, and the acute vulnerability of SMEs. Sandra Dyball warned: “If one person is absent, that could be 25% of the total workforce.”

The consensus was clear: with economic pressures rising, workplace wellbeing cannot be deprioritised. Employers, unions and government must work together to build a healthier, more resilient labour market — and deliver on the long-standing recommendations that have been allowed to gather dust for too long.

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Employers and wellbeing experts back Keep Britain Working review as fiscal pressures mount

Nammo UK has been selected to supply the main engine for the European Space Agency’s Argonaut lunar lander, a major element of the NASA-led Artemis programme that will return humans to the Moon in the early 2030s.

The announcement was made at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, where senior representatives from ESA, Nammo, Thales Alenia Space, OHB System AG and Thales Alenia Space UK took part in a formal signing ceremony.

The Buckinghamshire-based company will provide its new RELIANCE bi-propellant engine — a 6kN throttleable rocket engine now under development at its Westcott Venture Park facility. RELIANCE will power Europe’s first lunar lander, supporting the Artemis mission scheduled for 2031 and enabling the delivery of food, water, scientific instruments, communications infrastructure and power systems to the lunar surface.

Robert Selby, Vice President of Nammo Space, said the contract represents “a major step forward” for both the RELIANCE engine and European propulsion capability. “We’re honoured to be selected,” he said. “This is a testament to the remarkable team we have, and to the UK’s growing role in deep-space exploration.”

Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said the decision highlights the UK’s “long heritage and continued leadership” in space propulsion. “This is a significant achievement for Nammo UK and our expanding space sector,” he said. “The RELIANCE engine continues Westcott’s proud legacy of British rocket innovation and will support a wide range of future missions.”

Argonaut will operate autonomously and form a core pillar of Europe’s contribution to Artemis — the first human return to the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972. The lander will serve as a logistics vehicle, transporting vital cargo to support long-term exploration and habitation.

The RELIANCE engine draws design inspiration from the Apollo programme’s historic engines, using a pintle injector for precision landing control and hypergolic propellants for reliability. It also builds on Nammo UK’s successful LEROS engine family, used in missions including NASA’s Juno spacecraft, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, and Astroscale’s ADRAS-J debris-removal demonstration.

Nammo UK forms part of the wider Norwegian aerospace and defence group Nammo, with its space division operating from sites in Westcott, Cheltenham, Raufoss (Norway) and Dublin. The company continues to qualify new propulsion systems for global spacecraft and launch markets.

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Nammo UK chosen as main engine supplier for ESA’s Argonaut lunar lander

One of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies has announced the relocation of its headquarters to Bournemouth, as cloud accounting scale-up iplicit positions itself to become the South Coast’s next billion-dollar “unicorn”.

The company — which provides a next-generation cloud accounting platform for mid-market businesses and charities — will base its frontline support team at Patch Bournemouth, reinforcing the town’s reputation as an emerging tech hub. iplicit previously operated from London and Poole under a remote-first model.

iplicit has been on a steep growth trajectory since launching to market in 2019, scaling from 11 employees to 198 and securing 48,000 daily users across 103 countries. The business was named among Europe’s fastest-growing companies in the Financial Times FT1000 ranking and has averaged over 100% year-on-year growth for seven consecutive years.

In January, the company secured £25 million from growth fund One Peak in its first institutional round, having previously raised £18.5 million from management team members during its bootstrapped phase. The new investment is fuelling major product innovation, including expanded mobile capabilities and AI-driven functionality.

CEO Lyndon Stickley said Bournemouth offered an ideal base for the company’s next phase. “We needed a dynamic environment that could scale with us and house the South Coast’s next unicorn — and we found it at Patch,” he said. Stickley added that iplicit fills a “critical gap” in the mid-market, where around 100,000 UK organisations remain reliant on ageing, on-premise finance systems.

“Legacy software has dominated this market for 30 years,” he said. “iplicit is fast emerging as the UK’s favourite mid-market finance solution, and we expect our hypergrowth to continue over the next decade and beyond.”

Local hiring is expected to rise significantly, with iplicit projecting 330 employees by 2028, most working remotely across the UK and Ireland but with a growing Bournemouth presence.

Patch CEO Freddie Fforde said iplicit’s arrival reflects the company’s vision to bring high-growth firms into town-centre workspaces. “iplicit is proof that great tech businesses can be built anywhere,” he said. “Bournemouth can be very proud.”

Stickley said the new HQ caps a pivotal year for the company. “Our intel tells us we’re deploying more systems than any other vendor in the space,” he said. With more than 50 channel partners, including many of the UK’s top accounting firms, “we are well positioned to continue growing at pace.”

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Hypergrowth tech firm iplicit relocates headquarters to Bournemouth as it targets unicorn status

Graduate employment has slipped back to pre-Covid levels as a weakening economy depresses hiring and unwinds the temporary post-pandemic surge in opportunities, according to new research from Prospects at Jisc.

The annual What do graduates do? report, published on 25 November, shows a sharp deterioration in outcomes for the 2023 graduating cohort, who entered the labour market during a period of slowing demand and were surveyed in autumn 2024 as conditions worsened further.

Just 56.4% of graduates were in full-time work 15 months after leaving university — down 2.6 percentage points on the previous year and the lowest rate since the cohort that graduated immediately before the Covid recovery boom in 2020. The decline has continued through 2025.

Charlie Ball, head of labour market intelligence at Jisc, said post-pandemic hiring conditions had created “unrealistic expectations”.
“Many assumed the strong post-Covid jobs market was normal, but it really wasn’t,” he said. “We’ve now returned to normal labour market cycles after a few years of post-Covid exuberance. Vacancies are falling, businesses are unconfident and, with the AI bubble set to burst, recession looks more imminent.”

Graduate unemployment also ticked upward, rising from 5.6% to 6.2%, though this remains significantly lower than the broader youth unemployment rate of 15.3%.

One of the most notable shifts is a fall in graduates entering IT roles. Just 5.1% of the cohort moved into tech jobs — down from 6.7% — reflecting a sharp drop in IT vacancies as the sector corrects from post-pandemic over-recruitment.

Graduates entering administrative “non-graduate” roles fell markedly, with retail once again the largest destination for non-graduate employment — a return to long-term pre-Covid patterns.

Self-employment has rebounded strongly, rising to 11.4%, up from 8.8% last year, after a prolonged slump during Covid.

Despite the softening jobs market, sustained skills shortages continue to buoy demand in key sectors. Engineering, IT, health and social care remain in high demand, with the top graduate roles occupied by nurses, coders, doctors, teachers and marketing professionals.

Ball urged graduates not to be discouraged, stressing that those with higher education still fare significantly better in recessionary labour markets.
“Most graduates get good jobs quite quickly, and that will continue,” he said. “But the process will be tougher and more competitive. Students will need strong support from careers services — and they shouldn’t get lost in the AI hype. At this point there is little evidence of widespread job loss due to AI, and industry still needs people who can use these tools with human judgement.”

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‘Covid boom’ ends as graduate job prospects fall back to pre-pandemic levels

New research findings reveal that 34% of people living with diabetes do not feel supported in the workplace, highlighting a persistent gap between corporate well-being policies and the lived experience of employees managing the condition.

The survey shows that many workers still feel isolated when trying to balance blood glucose monitoring, medication, diet management and the daily demands of their job. Respondents said that open conversations about health and well-being remain rare, and that employers often underestimate the physical and emotional impact of managing diabetes at work.

This year’s International Diabetes Federation (IDF) theme — diabetes, well-being and the workplace — inspired the launch of a new campaign, “The Day Diabetes Showed Up to Work”, which aims to raise awareness of the unique challenges faced by employees with diabetes. The campaign encourages employers to acknowledge the adjustments, flexibility and understanding that can make working life safer and more manageable.

Organisers say their ambition extends far beyond a single awareness month. The initiative is designed to spark long-term cultural change around diabetes support in the workplace throughout 2026 and beyond, emphasising that genuine well-being requires year-round commitment rather than a once-a-year reminder.

The message is clear: millions of workers with diabetes are trying to thrive professionally while managing a lifelong condition — and employers have a crucial role in helping them feel seen, supported and understood.

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One in three employees with diabetes say they feel unsupported at work, new survey shows

Capital Business Media Group, the privately owned international media company behind the UK’s largest SME title Business Matters, today announces it has renewed its commitment to the Carbon Neutral programme for another two years, extending a sustainability accreditation the company has proudly held for over a decade.

This renewed certification underscores Capital Business Media Group’s long-standing pledge to operate responsibly across its global footprint and continue embedding sustainable business practices into every level of its operations.

Capital Business Media Group (CBM) owns a portfolio of market-leading brands including EV Powered, Travelling for Business, and Fund Manager Today, whilst also holding corporate contracts with world-leading brands like Aston Martin, and employs teams across offices in London, New York and Florida.

Its renewed participation in the Carbon Neutral programme reflects a deep and ongoing commitment to accountable and transparent environmental performance, mirroring the expectations of its audiences and partners.

Over the past decade, the company has continued to evolve its internal policies and business operations to reduce environmental impact. This includes the introduction and ongoing refinement of initiatives covering sustainable travel, energy efficiency, responsible procurement, waste reduction, and robust business ethics guidelines. These measures sit alongside wider cultural commitments to environmental awareness and responsible decision-making across every team.

Speaking about the renewal, Richard Alvin, Chief Executive of Capital Business Media Group, said: “As a privately owned business backed by the Florida-based investment company Son of Man Holdings, we have both the independence and the responsibility to make long-term, values-driven decisions. Renewing our Carbon Neutral accreditation, something we have now maintained for more than ten years, is a testament to that commitment. Sustainability is not a statement for us; it is a policy we live and breathe across all areas of the business, from the way we travel and procure to how we operate ethically as a global media group. Our brands influence conversations across entrepreneurship, technology, finance and mobility, so it is vital we lead by example.”

CBM continues to build on its sustainability commitments through ongoing measurement, transparent reporting, and continuous improvement across its UK and US operations.

By extending its Carbon Neutral status for another two years, the company reinforces its long-standing belief that responsible growth and environmental stewardship must go hand in hand — not only as a business imperative but as a core part of its identity.

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Capital Business Media Group renews Carbon Neutral commitment for a further two years

When Britain’s adopted steel king Lakshmi Mittal, gala-favourite philanthropist and one of the country’s most visible billionaire residents, quietly announced he was shifting his tax residency to Switzerland, it barely caused a ripple in Westminster.

Another wealthy non-dom heading for more forgiving fiscal pastures, shrugged the commentariat.

But for anyone paying attention to Britain’s charitable sector, Mittal’s departure is more than a footnote in a tax-policy debate. It is a red flag. A warning. A canary collapsing in the philanthropic coal mine.

Mittal is not leaving because of boredom with Belgravia. As Business Matters reported, his exit follows the dismantling of the non-dom system and, critically, the looming threat of UK inheritance tax on his global estate. He is not alone. Norwegian shipping billionaire John Fredriksen, German investor Christian Angermayer, and tech founders Herman Narula (Improbable) and Nik Storonsky (Revolut) have already slipped out of Heathrow with one recurring reason circled in red: UK tax policy.

And this, however we try to frame it, poses an awkward question.  One the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, hasn’t quite acknowledged in her rush to tighten the fiscal screws: if Britain is pushing out the very people who fund its museums, universities, research institutes, and children’s hospitals, could UK charities be the biggest losers of her brave new tax world?

Let’s be honest. Charities don’t live on wishful thinking. They live on cheques. And while the British public is generous in spirit, it is the handful of ultra-wealthy donors, people like Mittal, who quietly bank-roll the big stuff: endowments, buildings, specialist medical equipment, entire research departments. Mittal himself has given millions over decades to Great Ormond Street Hospital, to public libraries, to the arts, to humanitarian causes, to Oxford University. When such people stay, Britain wins. When they leave, Britain loses.

This isn’t a defence of tax privileges for the wealthy. Reeves is right to say the system needed reform. But there is a difference between fixing a loophole and creating a deterrent. Between modernising policy and frightening away those who play an outsized role in keeping Britain’s charitable landscape afloat.

The truth, and it feels almost unfashionable to say it aloud, is that major philanthropy is highly sensitive to tax signals. Wealthy donors don’t just give out of generosity; they give within systems that make generosity rational. Alter the incentives, tighten the inheritance-tax net, abolish the regime that made London competitive, and suddenly Dubai or Zug begins to look less like a holiday bolthole and more like a sensible postcode.

And when donors exit, charities suffer twice. First, through the immediate loss of multimillion-pound gifts. Second, through the long-term shift in their funding model: fewer large, flexible philanthropic donations and greater reliance on small public gifts that, while admirable, rarely pay for the expensive or unglamorous parts of a charity’s work, the electricity bill, the IT system, the nurses’ salaries, the safeguarding training. The things no one wants their name on.

It is too simple and too glib for ministers to argue that “fairness” trumps all. Fairness to whom? A tax system that chases out philanthropists may technically be fairer, but it may also leave the nation’s most vulnerable without the funding safety-net that government has neither the budget nor political appetite to replace.

What’s more, philanthropy carries a reputational weight. Billionaires giving large sums in Britain sends a signal that the UK is still a place where causes flourish, research advances and culture thrives. When they relocate, the narrative shifts: from “Britain, philanthropic powerhouse” to “Britain, too expensive to care”.

Charities know this. They’ve known it for years. But they also know something uncomfortable: you can’t replace a Mittal with 10,000 £20 donations. Not when you’re funding MRI machines, scientific breakthroughs or entire children’s hospices.

So where does this leave us? Ideally, with a little honesty. The government must recognise that smart tax policy is not only about fairness but about outcomes. If Reeves wants to avoid turning charity CEOs into professional beggars, she may need to pair her reforms with targeted incentives for high-impact giving or risk watching the voluntary sector shrink in real time.

Charities, meanwhile, must prepare for a new era: flatter donor lists, heavier dependence on domestic donors, and more resource-intensive fundraising just to stand still. The days of relying on a handful of loyal billionaire patrons might be ending, and not because the donors changed their hearts, but because the government changed the rules.

If the exodus continues  if more Mittals, more Fredriksens, more Narulas pack their bags the question will not be whether Reeves’s tax shake-up was principled. It will be whether the price was too high, too blunt and too blind to its collateral damage.

And the greatest losers may not be the wealthy at all but the charities who depend on them, and the people those charities exist to help.

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The rich are fleeing and our charities may be left holding the bill

The government must overhaul its “damaging” Employment Rights Bill or risk choking off growth, the head of Britain’s biggest business lobby group will warn on Monday — just two days before Rachel Reeves delivers her second Budget.

Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, will use the group’s annual conference in London to caution that ministers have failed to listen to employer concerns about the bill, which includes tougher unfair dismissal rights and guaranteed working hours. She will argue that eight in ten firms believe the legislation, in its current form, will make hiring harder, acting as a brake on economic growth.

“Lasting reform takes partnership, not a closed door,” she will say. “When eight in ten firms say this bill will make it harder to hire, they are brakes on growth. The government must change course and ask business and unions to forge consensus through compromise.”

Newton-Smith will also warn Reeves against repeating what she described as last year’s “stop-start economy” and further tax increases, noting that the Chancellor’s first Budget imposed £24 billion a year in new business costs. “It feels less like we’re on the move, and more like we’re stuck in Groundhog Day,” she will say.

Her comments come amid mounting anxiety among employers that next week’s Budget could include further revenue-raising measures, including a proposed £2,000 cap on salary sacrifice pension schemes — a move the pensions industry says could push nearly a third of businesses to cut contributions.

The CBI conference will also hear from business secretary Peter Kyle, who is expected to reassure employers that Labour is committed to cutting red tape, lowering energy bills and reversing what he calls “industrial decline”. Kyle will announce a two-month consultation to decide which firms qualify for a 25% cut in energy costs from April 2027, targeting more than 7,000 energy-intensive companies in sectors such as automotive, steel and chemicals.

“In recent years, our most promising innovators and industries have been hamstrung by some of the highest electricity prices in the G7,” Kyle will say, promising further reforms to make the UK “the best place to start and scale a business”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will also address delegates, pledging that any government under her leadership would “repeal every job-destroying, anti-business, anti-growth measure in this bill”.

Newton-Smith is expected to urge ministers to deliver a long-term solution to the UK’s crippling energy costs, noting that Britain suffers some of the highest prices in the world. She will call for a plan “that recognises the role of the North Sea in our transition” and fixes the structure of energy bills.

“You will never be able to tax your way to growth,” she will say. “How can business hire for growth when government decisions push the other way? When National Insurance rises and changes to salary sacrifice make it more expensive to take a chance on people?”

The conference will be attended by leaders including British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle and Sir Charlie Mayfield, who recently published the government’s “Keep Britain Working” review.

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Reeves warned ‘damaging’ workers’ rights bill risks stalling growth