iwoca’s latest SME Expert Index reveals that the Labour Government has had a negative impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during its first year in power, according to SME finance experts.

New research from leading employment platform Employment Hero has highlighted that payroll compliance is a considerable risk for small businesses – 84% have admitted to payroll errors and more than a third have faced fines costing them thousands of pounds.

Despite the growing global attention on AI and its impact on businesses, Cloud transformation also ranks as a critical priority for UK tech leaders, according to new research from Coursera, in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The UK government has launched a new global research initiative to tackle one of AI’s most urgent and technically complex challenges: ensuring that advanced systems behave in ways aligned with human values.

The percentage of small businesses working on new initiatives to power future growth has fallen to a four-year low (65%) and is significantly down on the start to the year (71% for Q1 2025), according to research from Novuna Business Finance.

The Government has launched its Small Business Plan, supporting the UK's smaller firms by unlocking access to finance, enhancing business skills, and opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs.