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New sentencing guidelines for corporate manslaughter, health and safety and food safety offences have now come into force. The Sentencing Council’s Definitive Guideline for the Sentencing of Health and Safety, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene offences took effect from February 1 and could see the steepest fines rise up to £20 million.

As the tail end of Storm Jonas is followed closely by Storm Gertrude, more UK businesses are braced for disruption. Rain, high winds and flooding have all hit the headlines in recent weeks but despite the effects they can have on small businesses, many remain under-insured.

Parliament has debated plans to fully digitise the tax-reporting process for small businesses and the self-employed. The debate was triggered by an e-petition titled “Scrap plans forcing self-employed and small business to do four tax returns yearly”, which received more than 100,000 votes of support.

Small and medium enterprises in the UK are split over the forthcoming referendum on whether to stay in the EU, a new study has found. Big businesses, meanwhile, are far more likely to lean towards staying.

Small and medium businesses in the UK are owed over £500 billion in outstanding invoices, according to a new study. The Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Business in Britain study found that the problem of late payments is mounting, with the amount owed representing an increase of more than 70% in just two years.

Less than half of all organisations worldwide feel confident in their abilities to defend themselves against cyber-attacks, according to a new report.

The UK’s technology sector received a record $3.6 billion (£2.54 billion) in venture capital funding in 2015. This represents a 70% increase over the $2.1 billion raised in 2014, a figure that was itself record breaking at the time.

A record number of start-ups were recorded in the UK in 2015. New figures released by Companies House show that 608,100 new businesses were launched last year, beating the 581,173 started in 2014 and setting a new record for the fourth consecutive year.

Almost two thirds of British workers feel that they are not paid enough for the job that they do, according to a new study. Nearly half of these respondents said they were currently in the process of looking for a new job as a result of feeling undervalued.

The majority of businesses agree that the way they interact with customers, suppliers and other businesses is important, with more than half claiming to have been on the receiving end of unethical business practices. Despite this, most SMEs do not have a formal business ethics policy in place.

Leading property insolvency and restructuring specialists Arron Kendall and Simon Thomas of Moorfields were appointed as joint administrators over a c. 200,000 sq ft mixed use property development in the centre of Aberdeen on 15 January 2016.

UK production in all major sectors is shown to have declined from the previous month in the latest report by the Office for National Statistics. The Index of Production, released by the ONS on January 12, showed that overall production fell by 0.7% between October and November last year.

A slowdown in growth and uncertainty in the wider economy has seen confidence amongst SMEs decline sharply over the past two years, according to a new survey.

A significant proportion of small and medium-sized UK businesses are still using nothing more than pen and paper to carry out their business admin tasks, according to a new survey. This could be hampering both productivity and profitability.

Small and medium enterprises in the UK could be paying up to £4 billion a year in hidden charges on international money transfers. According to a new report, 96% of the costs charged to make international payments are hidden from the customer as they are built into exchange rates.

More than 100,000 businesses in the UK were owed money by insolvent companies and individuals over the course of the past 12 months, according to figures released by insolvency trade body R3.

Small businesses who have not yet implemented auto enrolment for employees eligible for workplace pensions are being urged to make sure they meet their obligations. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has been writing to small and micro-businesses (those who employ between one and nine people) to let them know their staging dates.

If you feel you have a viable business that is struggling under the burden of debt, a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) can be a great solution. A CVA allows you to reduce creditor pressure, cut costs and restructure the business quickly and efficiently.

Step by step guide to a Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation

Step by step guide to a Company Aministration

A Guide to the Administration Process: Appointment by the holder of a Qualifying Floating Charge (“QFCH”)

A guide to the Administration Process Appointment by an Unsecured Creditor

A step by step guide to a LPA Receivership

Extreme weather events have been named the top fear for businesses going into 2016. Almost a quarter (23%) of SMEs polled in Barclays’ 2016 Hopes & Fears survey listed extreme weather as a factor that they feared could have a negative impact on their businesses over the course of the next 12 months.

Property specialists Simon Thomas and Arron Kendall of leading restructuring and insolvency firm, Moorfields were appointed Administrators over Freshfield Contracting Limited on 6 January 2016.

The introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) will be felt more keenly by employers in big northern cities, according to new research.

Simon Thomas and Nick O’Reilly of leading restructuring and insolvency firm, Moorfields were appointed Joint Administrators over Ashton Consulting (UK) Limited on 17 December 2015.

Property insolvency specialists Arron Kendall and Simon Thomas of leading restructuring and insolvency firm Moorfields were appointed Administrative Receivers over Sevenhill Estates Limited on 19th November 2015.

A new survey by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has found that just over a quarter (26%) of small businesses in the UK do not have a business plan.

Two of the main concerns facing UK businesses are the introduction of the National Living Wage and a continuing skills shortage, according to a study co-published by the Confederation of British Industry.