Monthly Archives: August 2021

Hot Business News Today

How to take the uncertainty out of your business energy bills

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By Dan Matthews on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Running a successful small business means ensuring you make more money than you spend, but this isn’t always an easy balance to get right. Seasonal changes in revenue and late payments can dwindle money coming in, while unexpected bills put a strain on money going out.
According to recent research by Xero and PayPal, 28% of small businesses owners describe cashflow management as a challenge, while almost the same number admit struggling to pay suppliers on time, creating a vicious circle of money arriving late.
But while an unexpected bill from your supply chain can cause sleepless nights, so too can costs you know are coming, such as your business energy bills, which are notoriously difficult to predict accurately and are too often underestimated.
This is not a problem to sniff at: for the smallest businesses, those with no employees, of which there are millions within GB, gas and electricity costs are among the biggest sources of expenditure after tax.
A question mark over costs
Figures from Smarter Business show the average small business consumes between 15,000 and 30,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity each year, equating to bills of

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Hot Business News Today

Retailers call for half of rent backlog to be waived

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By Anna Jordan on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

The communities secretary is facing new calls from retailers to force landlords to waive at least 50 per cent of rent debts accrued during the pandemic.

The Commercial Tenants Association, representing 500 businesses, has written to Robert Jenrick suggesting that the government adopts an Australian-style strategy to deal with rent debt. Under Australia’s rent relief scheme, it was mandatory for landlords to agree to a reduction in rent payable, up to 100 per cent, relative to the reduction in the tenant’s business during Covid-19. The scheme required landlords to waive 50 per cent of the total reduction in the rent payable and accept deferral of the remaining balance paid back in instalments over the remaining time on their lease.

CTA’s founder and chief executive, Peter Bell, said: “What we’re really calling for is for the government to impose a minimum of 50 per cent rental relief, in the form of a waiver to be agreed between the landlord and tenant.

“We’re hoping that arbitration is set up in a way that’s open, fair and transparent. We want to see a fair scenario where tenants are listened to and

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