Business News Round Up (15/09/2025)
Firms to cut hiring plans over new workers’ rights
Companies are warning that the Employment Rights Bill will further erode their competitiveness and reduce their willingness to hire workers. Almost nine in ten firms (86%) responding to a survey said the UK labour market is already a less attractive place in which to invest and do business than it was five years ago. Businesses are reeling from the hike in National Insurance Contributions, and the past three National Living Wage increases which have added £24 billion to the annual cost of doing business. The Treasury has been told that nearly 8 in 10 companies (78%) responding to the latest CBI/Pertemps Employment Trends Survey believe the Employment Rights Bill will hit growth, investment, jobs and bonuses. This is up from 54% last year. A quarter of respondents (27%) believe their organisation will be smaller in twelve months’ time, against 26% intending to grow.
UK manufacturing rebounds but £4bn lost to labour shortages
The UK manufacturing industry has seen a sharp rebound in activity in the third quarter of the year, with signs that pent up investment demand has been released, while recruitment intentions have also risen sharply. However, new analysis by Make UK shows the inability to fill the current 46,000 vacancies in manufacturing is now costing the sector £4bn in lost output every year. According to the Make UK/BDO Q3 Manufacturing Outlook survey, all indicators in the survey have improved following a series of weak quarters, with export growth in particular leading to greater demand. Furthermore, the US has recovered its position as the second most favoured market for growth prospects, having dropped out of the top three global blocs in Q2 for the first time in the history of the survey in response to tariff uncertainty earlier in the year.
https://www.pesmedia.com/uk-manufacturing-rebounds-but-4bn-lost-to-labour-shortages
Tackle crime, planning and rates, say retailers
Scottish retailers are demanding the next government does more to tackle shoplifting, improve public transport and simplify the planning process. They also want further action to reduce business rates and consideration of a directly elected provost for the greater Glasgow area. The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) outlines its proposals in the first of three mini manifestos ahead of next year’s Scottish Parliamentary Election. Between July 2024 until July 2025 shopper footfall to retail destinations in Scotland fell by an average 0.9% as government-imposed costs of operating retail stores in Scotland increased by nearly £200 million. These were mainly business rates and employers’ national insurance contributions. The SRC says 2,380 shops in Scotland pay a higher business rate than the equivalent stores in England. “The consequence of this is the retail industry is currently retrenching its high street offering,” says the SRC.
Investment in Women-Powered Businesses rises 332 per cent in Manchester over past 10 years
J.P. Morgan Private Bank today celebrates the fifth anniversary of its Top 200 Women-Powered Businesses report – analysing high-growth businesses founded, led, owned or managed by women in the UK – which shows that over the last decade, equity investment in Manchester’s women-powered businesses has risen by 332%, from £9.51m in 2015 to £41.1m in 2024. These businesses now receive 13.2% of all equity investment in high growth companies in the region, up from 5.9% in 2015. While this figure is still relatively low compared to the 24.6% (£4.51bn) received by women-powered businesses nationally, this increase represents a wider trend across the country of women-powered businesses playing a more prominent role in the UK’s high growth landscape. Women-powered businesses also make up an increasing proportion of Manchester’s high growth landscape, accounting for 26.4% (207) of the high growth companies in the region in 2024, which is up 140% over the last decade.