UK hi-tech small and medium-sized enterprises with high growth potential are set to benefit from at least £40 million of investment from a new Enterprise Capital Fund. Notion Capital, which is backed by private investors, the government and the European Investment Fund, will target businesses delivering internet-based services, including  cloud computing and software as a… Read more…

A new survey says that IT security breaches are costing the UK economy billions of pounds a year. A total of 447 businesses were quizzed for the 2012 Information Security Breaches Survey (ISBS), carried out by PwC in conjunction with Infosecurity Europe and supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Key findings of… Read more…

People trading on the internet who haven’t paid all the tax they owe are being invited to come forward and pay up under a new HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) campaign. The e-Markets Disclosure Facility will allow online marketplace traders to pay the tax they owe and benefit from lower penalties, rather than waiting for… Read more…

A new online toolkit has been launched to give first-time employers a step-by-step guide to their obligations when taking on a member of staff. Taking on an Employee, which is available on the Business Link website, takes employers through the process of hiring their first member of staff and explains their legal responsibilities on issues… Read more…

A Supreme Court ruling in a key direct age discrimination case is a reminder to employers that a worker’s age should not be “shorthand” on which to base their ability to do their job, says the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). In the ruling, delivered on 25 April, the court dismissed an appeal by… Read more…

Employment relations specialist Acas has launched a new guide to tackle what it describes as the last taboo in business – mental illness at work. According to the Centre for Mental Health charity, a total of 91 million work days are lost to mental ill health every year although the lost days account for only… Read more…

Office workers being banned from putting up Christmas decorations and trapeze artists being told to wear hard hats are among a top ten of myths published as part of the launch of a new service to help curb the worst examples of health and safety misuse. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will run the… Read more…

The government has announced that automatic pension enrolment rates are to be aligned with tax and national insurance thresholds, to streamline administration for businesses. In October, the largest employers will be the first to start automatically enrolling employees into qualifying workplace pension schemes and making contributions to the schemes, to which employees who opt to… Read more…

Employers are being urged to plan ahead for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee holiday in June. To mark the occasion, the last bank holiday in May has been moved to Monday, 4 June 2012 and there will be an extra bank holiday on Tuesday, 5 June. Now Acas has reminded employers to plan ahead to avoid… Read more…

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has delayed the introduction of a scheme under which it would recover its costs from businesses that break health and safety laws. The HSE said on 15 March that the Fee for Intervention (FFI) cost recovery scheme would not now start in April 2012, as originally planned. It said… Read more…