Business

London-based Mozart AI has raised $6 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round led by Balderton Capital, as the startup looks to reshape how music is created in the age of artificial intelligence.

The fundraise follows a $1.1 million pre-seed round completed last summer, taking Mozart AI’s total funding to more than $7 million. The latest investment coincides with the launch of the company’s long-awaited mobile app and comes amid rapid early traction for its AI-powered “Generative Audio Workstation”.

Mozart AI is positioning itself as a creator-first alternative to legacy digital audio workstations, many of which have dominated music production since the 1990s. Its platform is designed to support everyone from professional producers refining chart-ready releases to bedroom musicians creating and sharing their first tracks online.

The company says more than 100,000 users signed up within two months of its beta launch in September, with over one million songs already created. Artists using the platform include producers and collaborators linked to A$AP Rocky, Avicii and Kodak Black, while some tracks created using the software have already surpassed 10 million streams on Spotify.

Alongside Balderton, the seed round attracted participation from Mercuri, EWOR and a group of high-profile angel investors including Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz, Oscar-winning director Charles Ferguson and Frame.io founder Emery Wells.

The funding will be used to expand Mozart AI’s team, further develop its core technology and build on the viral momentum generated by its beta launch, ahead of a full public release.

Built by musicians, the platform combines traditional digital audio workstation functionality with AI-driven tools that assist rather than replace the creative process. Users can create music from scratch with AI support or generate tracks using prompt-driven “agentic” workflows.

Features include context-aware stem generation, real-time suggestions for MIDI progressions and drums, synth and effects creation, and the ability to remix sounds into new styles. Time-consuming production tasks such as quantisation and time stretching are handled automatically, while built-in video tools allow users to create and share music videos directly to social platforms.

Crucially, Mozart AI says artists retain full copyright over their work. The platform is built on commercially cleared third-party generative models, including those from ElevenLabs, which are trained exclusively on licensed material, enabling users to release and monetise their music without legal uncertainty.

Sundar Arvind, chief executive and co-founder of Mozart AI, said the company’s aim was to remove technical barriers without diluting artistic control. “Far from replacing creativity, AI is levelling up the adrenaline-filled process through which musicians compose and discover the right sounds,” he said. “We’re building toward a world where a spark of creativity can be turned into a release-ready, monetisable song in minutes.”

Industry figures echoed that sentiment. Ash Pournori, songwriter and former manager of Avicii, said the most successful AI music platforms would be those that empower rather than threaten artists. Meanwhile Umair Ali, producer for Kodak Black and Lil Baby, described Mozart AI as “an always-on sketchpad” that accelerates ideation without flattening the creative process.

Daniel Waterhouse, general partner at Balderton Capital, said the investment reflected a belief that AI tools must work with musicians, not against them. “Mozart AI enables artists to spend more time experimenting and iterating on ideas, rather than wrestling with clunky legacy software,” he said.

Founded by a team that blends musical and technical expertise, Mozart AI has moved from concept to premium product in less than a year. With fresh funding secured and a growing user base, the company is now betting that its artist-led vision can help define the next generation of music technology.

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Mozart AI raises $6m to put artists at the heart of AI-powered music creation

Retail spending picked up sharply in January as consumers flocked to post-Christmas sales, offering some relief to a sector hit by a subdued festive period and rising employment costs.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG showed that retail sales increased by 2.7 per cent year-on-year last month, up from growth of just 1.2 per cent in December.

The improvement suggests that many shoppers delayed spending before Christmas and instead waited for deeper January discounts.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “A drab December gave way to a brighter January as retail sales picked up pace. Many shoppers had held off Christmas spending and waited for the January sales, with the start of the new year showing the strongest growth.”

Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer, retail and leisure at KPMG, said discounting proved decisive. “January sales enticed consumers to spend, with personal electronics, furniture, and children’s clothes and toys among the best-performing categories,” she said.

She added that New Year resolutions had also driven spending in health-related categories, including wellness-focused food and drink.

Food sales rose by 3.8 per cent compared with January last year, up from annual growth of 2.8 per cent previously. Non-food sales increased by 1.7 per cent year-on-year.

However, the data will provide limited comfort to retailers concerned about margins. The reliance on heavy discounting to stimulate demand suggests that underlying consumer confidence remains fragile.

According to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales volumes are still 1.5 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. Official figures showed sales rose by only 0.4 per cent in December.

Consumer spending is a major driver of UK economic growth, and weakness in retail demand has weighed on GDP since the pandemic, as households grappled with rising living costs and higher borrowing rates.

Financial markets expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates two or three times this year, potentially beginning as early as March. Rates were reduced four times in 2025 to 3.75 per cent, their lowest level in three years.

The Bank’s latest forecasts indicate inflation is likely to return to its 2 per cent target by the spring. However, the central bank also expects unemployment to rise to 5.3 per cent this year, a post-pandemic high, potentially dampening consumer confidence.

Retailers are also contending with higher operating costs following the Labour government’s £25 billion increase in employer national insurance contributions and further rises in the minimum wage.

With official GDP data for the final quarter of last year due later this week, January’s rebound offers tentative signs of resilience — but the sector’s recovery remains closely tied to interest rates, household incomes and the strength of consumer confidence in the months ahead.

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Retail spending rebounds in January after weak Christmas

Growing numbers of Scottish spirits producers are showing signs of financial strain as weakening export demand, rising costs and trade barriers squeeze margins across the sector.

Research by restructuring specialist BTG Begbies Traynor found that 69 Scottish distillers were facing “significant” or “critical” financial distress at the end of the year, up from 49 in the previous quarter.

According to the Scotch Whisky Association, Scotland is home to more than 150 whisky distilleries, alongside more than 90 producing gin and a smaller number making vodka, rum and liqueurs.

Thomas McKay, managing partner of BTG in Scotland, said producers were facing a “perfect storm of lowering demand, rising production costs and increased tariffs in key markets”.

Exports to the United States and China, two of Scotch whisky’s most important markets, have been dented by tariffs and duties, while domestic trends have also shifted.

Several UK pub groups have reported that customers are increasingly trading down from spirits to cheaper alternatives such as beer or soft drinks. At the same time, broader societal changes, including declining alcohol consumption among younger consumers, have weighed on volumes.

McKay noted that demand for Scotch whisky and gin peaked during the pandemic in 2020, when lockdown consumption surged both in the UK and internationally.

“When that demand fell away, the resulting oversupply pushed prices down, just as additional export costs to the US began to rise sharply,” he said.

Distillers have also been hit by steep increases in energy and labour costs over the past two years, further eroding profitability.

The challenges have already prompted retrenchment. Last month, craft brewer BrewDog announced plans to close its distillery and spirits arm, underscoring the pressure across the wider drinks sector.

The strain is not confined to Scotland. Export volumes of French wine and spirits fell last year to their lowest level in 25 years.

Industry body FEVS said shipments dropped 3 per cent year-on-year to 168 million cases, the weakest performance since the turn of the century. The value of sales declined 8 per cent to €14.3 billion, the poorest showing on that measure for five years.

Tariffs imposed by the United States under President Trump, as well as duties in China, were cited as key headwinds.

Gabriel Picard, chairman of FEVS, said that new trade agreements between the European Union and India, as well as Mercosur countries in South America, could help support exports in the year ahead. However, he warned that sales of cognac and wine to the US and China could deteriorate further.

For Scotland’s distillers, the coming year is likely to test resilience. With costs elevated, export markets volatile and domestic consumers tightening belts, the industry that has long been one of Britain’s flagship exporters is confronting one of its most challenging trading environments in decades.

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Tariffs and falling demand leave Scotch distillers under pressure

Ed Miliband has approved a sweeping expansion of renewable energy projects across the UK, backing solar farms that could cover an area of farmland close to the size of Manchester, alongside dozens of new onshore wind developments.

On Tuesday, the energy secretary awarded consumer-funded subsidies to 134 new solar farms across England and a further 23 in Wales and Scotland. He also approved 28 large onshore wind projects, mainly located on hillsides in Scotland and Wales.

Among the schemes given the green light is the vast West Burton solar farm on prime agricultural land on the Lincolnshire–Nottinghamshire border, as well as one of the UK’s most northerly solar developments on farmland in north Aberdeenshire. Miliband has also approved England’s largest onshore wind project in a decade, the 20 megawatt Imerys Wind Farm on a former mining site in Cornwall.

Under the government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) regime, operators of the new projects will receive a guaranteed minimum price for the electricity they generate for up to 20 years after becoming operational, with the difference funded through levies on consumer energy bills.

The announcement was welcomed by renewable energy developers and industry groups, who argue that large-scale solar and onshore wind are among the cheapest ways to generate new electricity.

However, countryside and community campaigners warned that the decision risks long-term damage to farmland and rural landscapes.

Claire Coutinho, Labour’s shadow energy secretary, said the subsidies would ultimately raise household bills. “The true cost of this power, once you add in network charges and back-up, is far higher,” she said. “All this will do is make electricity more expensive, when what we need is cheaper power to support growth and living standards.”

The approvals include 4.9 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, 1.3GW of onshore wind and four experimental tidal schemes totalling 21 megawatts. They follow confirmation earlier this month of subsidies for 8.4GW of offshore wind capacity.

Campaign groups argue that the land impact of solar is being underestimated. Rosie Pearson, chair of the Community Planning Alliance, said: “This represents further destruction of countryside and best farmland while warehouse roofs, car parks and houses sit empty of solar panels. Add the pylons that accompany these schemes and rural areas are being industrialised.”

Based on previous developments, the solar farms approved could cover more than 40 square miles of mainly agricultural land, close to the size of Manchester, which spans about 45 square miles. The solar industry counters that improved panel efficiency could reduce the final land take to around 36 square miles, roughly equivalent to Stoke-on-Trent.

Concerns were also raised about the pace of onshore wind development in Scotland. Helen Crawford of the Highland Community Council Convention on Major Energy Infrastructure said communities were being left behind by planning decisions. “The lack of strategic spatial planning has created a democratic deficit between communities and policymakers,” she said.

Industry bodies rejected claims that the projects would push up costs. James Robottom of RenewableUK said new onshore wind would protect consumers from volatile gas prices, while Chris Hewett, chief executive of Solar Energy UK, described the approvals as “proof positive” that solar delivers the cheapest available power.

Miliband defended the decision, saying the expansion would strengthen energy security and cut bills over the long term. “By backing solar and onshore wind at scale, we’re driving bills down for good and protecting families and businesses from the fossil-fuel rollercoaster controlled by petrostates and dictators,” he said.

Under the latest CfD terms, new onshore wind farms will receive a minimum price of £75.50 per megawatt hour (MWh) in today’s prices, while solar projects will receive £68.17 per MWh. That compares with market prices of around £60 per MWh for electricity expected to be delivered in summer 2028.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has previously warned that CfD levies on consumer and business energy bills are projected to rise from £2.3 billion in 2024–25 to around £5 billion by 2030–31, intensifying the political debate over who ultimately pays for the UK’s clean energy transition.

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Miliband backs solar and wind projects covering farmland nearly the size of Manchester

The founder of Starling Bank has reduced her shareholding in the fintech, as new filings reveal that Anne Boden has cut her stake during a secondary share sale that valued the business at up to £4 billion.

Boden, who launched Starling in 2014 after senior roles at Allied Irish Banks and Lloyds, has lowered her holding to around 2.7 per cent from a previous 4.3 per cent, according to the disclosures.

The move follows a secondary share sale launched by Starling last year, aimed at allowing existing shareholders to sell down stakes while creating opportunities for new investors. At the time, the bank was targeting a valuation of between £3.5 billion and £4 billion, according to the Financial Times.

The filings show that Chrysalis Investments, which counts Starling as 53 per cent of its portfolio, retained a stake of more than 10 per cent. The Guernsey-based investment trust has been a long-term backer of Starling, leading a £30 million funding round in 2019 and investing a further £20 million in 2023.

Starling’s largest shareholder remains billionaire Harald McPike, who continues to hold more than 40 per cent of the company through his investment vehicle JTC Holdings.

The secondary sale comes amid a shift in tone from Starling’s leadership on a potential stock market listing. Over the past year, the bank’s senior team has signalled increased openness to a US flotation, marking a departure from earlier commitments to London.

Declan Ferguson, Starling’s chief financial officer, has said the bank has not yet formed a “concrete view” on the most suitable market for a listing, describing the decision as “in flux”. That contrasts with comments made in 2024 by former interim chief executive John Mountain, who said the fintech was “very committed” to a London listing and described the City as its “natural home”.

Mountain succeeded Boden as chief executive in May 2023. Her departure followed reports of tensions with investors after fund manager Jupiter sold its stake in Starling at a price below its previous valuation. Boden later said her decision to step down reflected concerns that her role as chief executive was being unduly influenced by her position as a shareholder.

When asked about her reduced stake, Boden declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Starling said: “During the last year, one of our shareholders agreed to sell some of their shares to another of our shareholders in a private, bilateral transaction. This was done with the company’s full knowledge and support.”

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Starling founder Anne Boden cuts stake in £4bn fintech

UK semiconductor start-up Fractile has announced a £100 million expansion of its British operations, scaling up in London and Bristol as ministers intensify calls for greater domestic ownership of critical artificial intelligence technology.

The investment, to be deployed over the next three years, will fund a new industrial hardware engineering facility in Bristol, alongside the expansion of Fractile’s existing UK sites and a significant increase in its domestic workforce.

The company is focused on developing AI chips optimised for inference, the stage at which large language models generate outputs, an area of growing strategic importance as demand for real-time AI applications accelerates.

Engineers at the new Bristol facility will work on integrating Fractile’s chips into full AI systems and will operate a specialist software testing lab, allowing the company to develop and validate hardware and software in tandem.

The announcement comes as Kanishka Narayan, the government’s AI minister, prepares to urge Britain’s technology founders and investors to “embrace risk” and back home-grown innovation in a speech to the UK’s AI sector. He is expected to stress that British ownership of foundational technologies will be critical if the UK is to shape the future direction of AI.

Founded in 2022, Fractile is developing in-memory computing chips designed to run powerful AI models faster and with significantly lower energy consumption than conventional hardware. The market for AI inference chips is currently dominated by Nvidia, but is increasingly attracting start-ups and hyperscalers seeking more efficient and lower-cost alternatives.

Fractile is backed by the NATO Innovation Fund and has raised more than $35 million (£25.5 million) to date. The company says its technology could dramatically reduce both the cost and power required to run large AI models, an increasingly pressing constraint as data centre demand surges globally.

The expansion is being viewed as a vote of confidence in the UK’s ambitions to build a domestic AI hardware ecosystem, alongside continued investment in software, data and infrastructure. Ministers have identified “sovereign” computing capacity as a national priority, amid rising concerns over supply chains, ownership and national security.

Fractile said the £100 million commitment underlined its long-term intention to build and scale advanced semiconductor hardware on home soil, as scrutiny intensifies across the UK tech sector over who controls critical digital infrastructure.

The move follows a strong year for government-backed AI initiatives, with tens of billions of pounds of private capital pledged to UK AI projects and thousands of jobs expected to be created under the government’s year-old AI Opportunities Action Plan.

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Fractile commits £100m UK expansion as it ramps up AI chip development

London-based energy technology company Tem has raised $75 million in fresh funding as it looks to expand internationally and accelerate the rollout of its AI-driven platform designed to cut business electricity bills by up to 30 per cent.

The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and is understood to value the four-year-old company at around $300 million. Tem plans to use the capital to further develop its technology and scale its operations in the US.

Founded in 2021, Tem has built a platform it calls “Red”, described by the company as a neo-utility that uses artificial intelligence to match electricity supply and demand directly, bypassing the wholesale market and its multiple intermediaries.

Joe McDonald, Tem’s co-founder and chief executive, said the aim was to remove what he described as unnecessary “middle men” from the energy system. “We calculate that about $1 trillion is taken out every year in transaction fees by ‘Big Energy’,” he said. “Our mission is to take that cost of transaction down to zero.”

Tem’s software is already being used by around 2,600 businesses, including Boohoo and Fever-Tree, to reduce electricity costs. Since launching Red in November 2024, the company says it has saved customers $35 million in energy bills. Two schools have also signed up, with one saving £55,000 a year, according to Tem.

McDonald said the inefficiencies of the current system made disruption inevitable. “I don’t see why every single electricity transaction won’t be run by infrastructure like ours over the next ten years,” he said. “There is too much inefficiency in the outdated process that 99 per cent of transactions currently rely on.”

Tem was founded by a team of energy specialists including Jason Stocks, Bartlomiej Szostek, Ross Mackay and McDonald. The latest raise takes total funding to $94 million, with existing investors including Hitachi Ventures and Atomico.

McDonald said Red had been launched partly to demonstrate what Tem’s technology could achieve. Over the longer term, the company plans to license its platform to utilities globally to reduce their cost per transaction. Two utilities are already using the software, although Tem has declined to name them.

“At the heart of the problem is the energy transaction itself,” McDonald said. “If I’m a business buying electricity, I’m typically paying 25 to 30 per cent more than the cost at which it’s generated. That’s because the transaction passes through up to seven intermediaries, each taking a cut.”

Tem says it has facilitated around two terawatt hours of electricity transactions so far, roughly equivalent to powering Liverpool for a year. Its Red service is run by two AI agents supported by a team of just four people.

“A traditional utility would need around 170 staff to serve the same number of customers,” McDonald said. “That shows how technology infrastructure can transform efficiency, while also improving the customer experience.”

With energy costs still a major concern for UK and international businesses, Tem is betting that AI-driven infrastructure, rather than incremental reform, will reshape how electricity is bought and sold.

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AI energy start-up Tem raises $75m to cut business power bills

Apple and Google have agreed to make changes to their UK app stores following intervention by the country’s competition watchdog, after it concluded the two firms hold an “effective duopoly” over the sector.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the tech giants have committed to a series of measures designed to improve transparency and competition. These include pledges not to give preferential treatment to their own apps and to be clearer about how third-party apps are reviewed and approved for sale.

The commitments come seven months after the CMA warned that Apple and Google’s dominance of mobile app distribution in the UK was stifling competition. In October 2025, the regulator formally designated both companies’ app stores as having “strategic market status”, giving it enhanced powers to demand changes under the UK’s new digital competition regime.

Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said the agreements marked an important milestone. “These proposed commitments will boost the UK’s app economy and are the first of many measures,” she said. “The ability to secure immediate commitments from Apple and Google reflects the unique flexibility of the UK’s digital markets competition regime and offers a practical route to swiftly address the concerns we’ve identified.”

As part of the deal, both companies have also agreed not to use data collected from third-party app developers in ways the regulator considers unfair. Cardell described the changes as “important first steps”, adding that the CMA would continue working with the companies on further remedies.

The watchdog said it would “closely monitor” implementation and would not hesitate to impose legally binding requirements if the commitments were not honoured.

Both companies welcomed the outcome. Apple said it faced “fierce competition in every market where we operate” and that it was committed to delivering the best possible products and user experience. Google said it believed its existing practices on the Play Store were already fair and transparent, but added that it “welcomes the opportunity to resolve the CMA’s concerns collaboratively”.

Analysts cautioned that the agreement may not be the final word. Paolo Pescatore, a technology analyst, described the move as a “pragmatic first step” but said some critics would view it as tackling “low-hanging fruit”. “There will inevitably be calls for a tougher clampdown from some quarters,” he said.

The CMA said the UK app economy is the largest in Europe by revenue and number of developers, generating an estimated 1.5 per cent of UK GDP and supporting around 400,000 jobs.

Both Apple and Google have previously warned against the UK adopting rules similar to those in the European Union, where large online platforms designated as “gatekeepers” face sweeping obligations. Apple has already been forced in the EU to introduce changes such as offering users a choice of default browser, and has argued that some requirements undermine privacy and security.

Apple said the UK commitments reflected its “constructive engagement” with the CMA and a more pragmatic approach to regulation — but the regulator has made clear that further intervention remains on the table if competition concerns persist.

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Apple and Google agree UK app store changes after ‘effective duopoly’ ruling

UK government borrowing costs climbed on Monday as markets reacted to intensifying pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, with investors pricing in heightened political risk and the possibility of a shift towards more left-leaning Labour policies.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year UK government bond rose by as much as 0.08 percentage points to nearly 4.6 per cent, while yields on 30-year gilts reached their steepest level since November. Bond yields move inversely to prices, meaning the rise reflected a sell-off in gilts.

The move came after Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, publicly called on Starmer to step down, triggering speculation over the prime minister’s future. Yields later pared back some of their gains after senior cabinet ministers rallied behind Starmer.

Currency markets were more mixed. Sterling strengthened 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.36, while slipping 0.26 per cent against the euro to €1.14. London’s FTSE 100 ended the session 0.16 per cent higher.

Investors appeared to react to concerns that Starmer, under pressure from within his party, could pivot towards more interventionist or higher-spending policies to shore up support from Labour backbenchers. Markets also weighed the prospect of a leadership contest that could elevate figures from the party’s left.

One name increasingly discussed by traders is Angela Rayner, who is seen as sitting to the left of Starmer. Although Rayner was among senior Labour figures to publicly back the prime minister, her potential ascent has unsettled investors wary of a change in fiscal direction. Wes Streeting, associated with Labour’s more centrist wing, is also viewed as a possible contender in any future leadership race.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said markets were beginning to reprice UK assets. “A political risk premium is once again being built into UK asset prices, as investors worry about what a new leader could mean for economic policy,” she said.

The gilt sell-off also unfolded against a backdrop of broader volatility in global bond markets following Japan’s general election, though UK-specific political concerns were seen as the main driver.

Speculation around Starmer’s position intensified further after the resignation of his head of communications, Tim Allan, following the weekend departure of chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. The turmoil has been compounded by controversy surrounding the appointment of Lord Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, despite warnings over his past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For now, markets remain on edge, with investors closely watching whether Labour’s internal strains translate into a change of leadership, or a change of economic course, in the weeks ahead.

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Gilt yields jump as pressure mounts on Starmer amid leadership speculation

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has launched a new expert-led commission to examine the future of occupational safety and health (OSH) skills in the UK, amid growing concerns over workforce shortages and rising pressures on safety professionals.

Convened in partnership with Speedy Hire, the OSH Skills Commission brings together leading figures from across industry, trade unions and professional bodies to develop practical solutions to skills challenges that threaten workplace safety and productivity.

The initiative was formally launched at an event in the House of Lords by head commissioner and RoSPA vice president Baroness Crawley of Edgbaston. It will comprise five expert roundtables, each focused on a critical factor shaping OSH outcomes, with findings feeding into a final report of strategic recommendations for government and industry.

RoSPA said the commission comes at a pivotal moment, as Skills England and the government’s new post-16 skills strategy begin to identify priority areas for workforce development. The organisation aims to influence that agenda by ensuring occupational safety and health skills are recognised as essential to economic resilience and worker protection.

Five focus areas, five expert commissioners

The commission will examine five core themes, each chaired by a recognised leader in the field:
• Recruitment of competent people – Claudia Jaksh, chief executive of Policy Connect
• Retention of competent people – Rick Bate, president of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH)
• Consultation and worker representation – Luke Collins, national health and safety officer at Unite the Union
• Wellbeing, culture and psychological safety – Nick Pahl, chief executive of the Society of Occupational Medicine
• Technology in OSH – Kate Field, global head of people and social sustainability at the British Standards Institution

Each roundtable will explore how widening skills gaps, the loss of experienced professionals and difficulties in attracting and retaining talent are being compounded by changing working patterns, new technologies and increasing regulatory complexity.

Speaking at the launch, Baroness Crawley warned that the UK was facing a mounting shortage of occupational safety and health skills, with real-world consequences.

“This commission is born out of difficult circumstances,” she said. “Our nation faces a growing occupational safety and health skills shortage that is impacting productivity and putting people in danger.

“Our goal is to influence policy through stakeholder engagement and drive informed change, once again positioning the UK as a world leader in health and safety. Together, we have an opportunity to future-proof OSH skills, support national productivity and build a safer, stronger workforce.”

Andy Johnson, group HSSEQ director at Speedy Hire, said the nature of the modern workforce was creating new risks. “We’re seeing a more transient, industry-agnostic workforce moving rapidly between roles,” he said. “While that brings fresh energy, it also creates skills and knowledge gaps that present new challenges for the OSH profession.”

Nick Pahl of the Society of Occupational Medicine said the commission’s focus on empowerment was critical. “By putting skills at the heart of recruitment, retention, wellbeing and technology, the commission can identify solutions that support people and businesses rather than burden them,” he said.

RoSPA said the final report would aim to set out a clear roadmap for strengthening OSH capability across the UK, ensuring safety professionals are equipped to meet evolving risks and helping employers maintain safe, healthy and productive workplaces.

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RoSPA launches expert commission to shape the future of occupational safety skills