Business News Round Up (22/02/2021)
Find out more about Where Now Consulting. We update our business news daily.
UK attracts 1,500 EU financial services firms
Almost 1,500 EU-based financial services firms have applied for permission to operate in the UK, with around 1,000 of these planning to establish their first UK office. Financial regulatory consultancy Bovill says the figures offer further evidence that the UK will continue to be a leading player on the global financial stage. The data, confirming initial figures obtained in 2019, also shows that while much attention is placed on British companies setting up offices in the EU, there is also a lot of movement in the other direction. In October 2019 Bovill secured figures through Freedom of Information showing that 1,441 firms had applied to the Temporary Permission Regime. The TPR allows European Economic Area firms and funds to continue to operate in the UK, while seeking full authorisation from UK regulators.
£15m funding announced for tourism industry
Visit Scotland has announced £15 million will be available to help Scottish businesses who promote and sell package holidays or day tours to the country. The scope of the financial support for the Scotland Inbound Tour Operators – COVID-19 Business Support and Continuity Fund criteria has been widened. While a new fund – The Scotland Day Tour Operators – COVID-19 Business Support and Continuity Fund has been created, in order to help more Scottish-based businesses in the tour operator sector. Guidance for both funds is now live, and applications for inbound tours will open on February 25 at midday and day tours on March 4 at noon. Both strands of the funding are being delivered by VisitScotland on behalf of the Scottish Government and has been developed with input from the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Scottish Destination Management Association, the Scottish Incoming Golf Tour Operators Association, UK Inbound and the Scottish Independent Tour Operators Association.
https://www.grampianonline.co.uk/news/15m-funding-announced-for-tourism-industry-228814/?cmpredirect
More than half of UK firms plan to hire new staff
More than half of UK employers intend to recruit staff in the next three months, according to new research. The human resources body, the CIPD, said it was the first positive signs for employment prospects it had seen in a year. About 56% of 2,000 firms surveyed planned to hire in the first three months of 2021. The sectors with the strongest hiring intentions include healthcare, finance and insurance, education, and ICT. “Our findings suggest that unemployment may be close to peak and may even undershoot official forecasts, especially given the reported fall in the supply of overseas workers,” said Gerwyn Davies from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which carried out the survey with recruitment firm Adecco. The survey also found that the number of firms planning to make redundancies in the first quarter of 2021 dropped from 30% to 20%, compared with the previous three-month period.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56149661
North West leaders outline budget priorities
Business leaders in the North West are calling for next month’s Budget to prioritise commitments to level up the region, increase support for digital transformation and provide incentives for employers to invest in skills development, according to a new report. Grant Thornton UK has carried out a survey of the area’s mid-market businesses. It suggests that despite the ongoing challenges posed by Covid-19, business sentiment in the North West was largely positive, with more than 40% of respondents very optimistic about revenue growth over the remainder of the year. This corresponded with overall confidence on the outlook for the UK economy. There was some inter-regional variation on which support measures would be most helpful to extend, with leaders in the Liverpool City Region calling for the Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility to continue.
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/north-west-leaders-outline-budget-priorities