Business News Round Up (14/09/2021)
Government backs entrepreneurs across the UK with £600 million of Start-Up Loans outside London
The government’s Start Up Loans scheme has provided £600 million in loans to businesses outside London, delivering extensive support for entrepreneurship across the UK’s home nations and regions. Loans have gone to a huge range of companies, including businesses making vegan bags in Yorkshire, bespoke wooden furniture in Northern Ireland and rum cakes in the Lake District. Businesses and entrepreneurs in the North West of England received the most loans outside London, totalling over £94 million, with those in the South East receiving over £81 million, followed by Yorkshire & The Humber with over £68 million. Aspiring business owners receive up to £25,000 through the Start Up Loans scheme, run by the British Business Bank, delivering support that they may have otherwise struggled to get through a commercial bank loan. The scheme also provides mentoring to those starting their business venture, and offers extensive support to women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs from ethnic minority backgrounds and the previously unemployed.
More than a third of Scottish employers now hiring remote staff
More than a third (34%) of employers in Scotland are planning to hire staff who are fully remote – higher than the UK average of 28%. Recruitment firm Hays surveyed 22,700 employers and professionals – with 1,300 respondents in Scotland – finding that Scottish employers came second only to London, where 36% of companies are planning to hire fully remote staff. The research revealed that 18% of employers in Scotland said that remote hiring was a new policy within their organisation, while 16% of employers said they have always hired remote staff. Hiring staff for skills rather than location also looks set to increase, as 41% of employers in Scotland said it is now less important that a candidate is based close to the workplace, compared to before the pandemic. A further 88% of employers in Scotland said that the salary for remote employees will remain the same as those based in the office, while 5% said they intend for salaries to be higher for remote staff and 7% said salaries will be lower.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/more-third-scottish-employers-now-24978505
UK must be better prepared for future economic shocks, union warns
Thousands of UK jobs could be a risk to technology, offshoring and climate change, the head of a trade union has warned, saying that coronavirus will not be a “one off” shock to the economy. Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, will tell the union’s annual conference today that “the UK must be better prepared for crises in the future. New tech offers new opportunities but also poses old threats to jobs.” She will add that the economic fallout from Covid is not going to be a “one off”, the BBC reported, and that issues such as climate change were already having an impact. “The longer we put off getting to net zero, the more disruptive it will be,” she is expected to say. This statement will come after the TUC released research which estimated that between 368,000 and 667,000 jobs could be offshored from Britain if industries failed to meet climate targets and the UK fell behind other countries on climate action. The report gave a narrow estimate that 33,700 jobs in the iron and steel industry could be directly affected if the UK falls behind on climate action. Meanwhile, this would also directly affect 25,200 jobs in glass and ceramics industries and 20,500 jobs in the chemicals industry. The TUC also ranked the different regions of the UK according to how many jobs will directly be at risk if climate action is not addressed and found Yorkshire and the Humber would see the highest risk (23,300 jobs), followed by the West Midland (19,600) and the North West (18,400).
Slight increase in Scotland’s employment rate
The number of people in work in Scotland rose slightly during the summer as job vacancies hit a record high, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics said 2,631,000 people aged 16-64 were in employment between May and June. The employment rate of 74.1% is 0.2 percentage point up on the previous quarter but still 1.3 percentage points lower than pre-pandemic levels. A total of 118,000 people in Scotland were unemployed – a rate of 4.3%. That marks a 0.1 percentage point fall on the previous quarter and a decrease of 0.6 percentage points on the year. Across the UK, there was an employment rate of 75.2% and vacancies rose above one million for the first time. Meanwhile, HMRC estimates show there were 9,000 more pay-rolled employees in August than July 2021. However, this is 25,000 fewer than in February 2020 – the month before the first coronavirus lockdown.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-58555014