Pubs and live music venues in England will be given a 15% discount on their business rates bills from April and will not see increases for two years, the government announced. It comes after a backlash against November’s Budget, which left many facing major increases in their business rates bills. The government says that pubs… Read more…

Small businesses such as cafes, shops and hairdressers are facing three years of business rates misery with an average 52% hike in bills, analysis from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has revealed. This is due to the removal of business rates relief for 230,000 small firms across the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) sectors… Read more…

The number of people using the HMRC app to pay their self assessment tax bill has increased by 65% this tax year, according to the tax authority. Almost 340,000 people have used the HMRC app to pay their self assessment tax since 6 April 2025, an increase of 132,788 people compared to the same period… Read more…

The UK will bring cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, into a regulatory framework with legislation due by 2027. The government says that firm and proportionate rules will give legal clarity over the sector’s regulatory position. It says they will also boost consumer confidence by ensuring consumers are robustly protected. The changes mean that firms will need to… Read more…

Five major UK banks have agreed a £11 billion lending package aimed at SMEs to support small business growth, the government has announced. The lending commitment is one of the largest collective moves by the banking sector in over a decade. The government says this represents an ‘historic show of confidence in the UK economy’.  Senior executives from NatWest, HSBC UK, Barclays, Lloyds and Santander finalised… Read more…

More than 4,800 self assessment scams have been reported since February 2025, according to data released by HMRC. The tax authority says scammers are using persuasive and threatening tactics to target people when they are more likely to receive correspondence from HMRC. The scammers send fake tax demands or attempt to pressurise people to hand… Read more…

The UK can expect to see big falls in the rate of inflation this year, according to the Resolution Foundation. The think tank’s prediction comes despite an increase in December 2025 that saw the UK end the year with the highest headline inflation of any G7 economy – an unwanted position it has now held… Read more…

Despite falling behind its peers the UK economy could be on the brink of a turnaround so the government must ramp up rather than run-down its growth strategy, says the Resolution Foundation. A report by the think tank warns that the UK’s poor post-financial crisis economic performance has continued well into the 2020s. Its GDP… Read more…