High Street shops are increasingly accepting only card or phone payments, taking security, costs and the way customers are behaving into account. This comes from research among small businesses by Link which runs the UK’s biggest cash machine network. About three quarters of the businesses asked still accept cash but of the other quarter who don’t, have gone cashless in the last year. Retailers are worried about the security of handling cash especially as
Copyright and all rights reserved – .gov.uk UK Indo-Pacific Minister Seema Malhotra visited Manila to deepen cooperation, marking 80 years of ties and advancing work on security, growth and climate. From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Seema Malhotra MP Published 5 March 2026 Manila – UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific Seema Malhotra visited Manila to deepen UK-Philippines cooperation. This comes as the two countries mark 80 years of bilateral relations, as well as the 5th anniversary of the UK’s status as an ASEAN Dialogue Partner.
Copyright and all rights reserved – .gov.uk ACE developed a data gathering and analysis proof of concept for more accurate air drops that lays the groundwork for predictive modelling. From: Accelerated Capability Environment Published 3 March 2026 Impact: A secure data capture and analysis proof of concept for more accurate air drops that lays the groundwork for predictive modelling, developed in just nine weeks. In high-stakes environments like combat or crisis zones, the UK
While ministers hail G7-leading growth, fresh small business data shows slowing sales, cautious hiring and mounting pressure on retail and hospitality margins. What’s really going on in the small business economy? Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash While the Chancellor applauded the UK’s growth in the Spring Statement today, as the fastest in the G7, Xero (the cloud accounting software company) published its Small Business Insights data for the December quarter. The rhetoric and
The Chancellor spoke of stability and growth, but with confidence falling, costs rising and global turmoil intensifying, many small businesses fear the economic reality has already overtaken the promises. You may well think this strange, but I felt sorry for the Chancellor this lunchtime. She had to deliver her Spring Statement knowing it was out of date before she stood up in the House of Commons. The current world changing events are shifting the