PA Consulting Cyber security is a growing concern for businesses and in 2019 the average cost of a serious global breach amounted to $3.9m. A cost that is expected to rise in the future. In a recent interview , Carl Nightingale, Cyber Security Expert at PA Consulting encouraged businesses to start seriously considering investing in cyber insurance. Today, only 11% of businesses can bolster that they are adequately covered by cyber ...

Cash Usage The sharp fall in the use of cash during the pandemic has now steadied as consumers return to their previous method of paying for goods. Debit and credit cards were used for 57% of all payments in the UK in 2021 which represents a total reversal from the 55% usage of cash in 2011. However, cash use is projected to continue to decline in the long-term to an estimated ...

UK Economy Contracted in Q2 The UK economy, between April and June, shrunk 0.1% according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was attributed to COVID schemes (such as Test and Trace) ending, declining retail sales and reduced economic productivity caused by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee bank holiday. The UK is not officially in a recession as Q1 of 2021 delivered 0.8% YoY growth. Although, economists (including the Bank of ...

Hiring Slowdown July saw the slowest increase in the number of permanent jobs being filled for 17 months. KPMG have highlighted that recruiters are increasingly tentative about hiring new staff; this was also attributed to continued skills shortages along with a hesitancy from candidates to move jobs now. Overall, this is expected to culminate with what the Bank of England (BoE) anticipates will be a recession in the final quarter of ...

UK’s Next PM Following the resignation of PM Johnson, on 7th July 2022, the ruling Conservative Party launched the contest for the new leader. PM Johnson will remain leader until the 5th of September but will leave “major fiscal decisions” to the next prime minister. Currently, paying members of the Conservatives (approximately 180,000) are in the process of voting between the two final candidates: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. Sunak was ...

Inflation Rates UK inflation has risen at its fastest rate for 40 years as food costs have risen 8.5% since May 2021. Items such as Pasta (up 16.1%), Butter (up 13.1%) and eggs (up 12.6%) are some of the most impacted by inflation which contributes to the average annual grocery bill in the UK rising by an estimated £380 this year. Britain’s second largest supermarket, ASDA, has reported that shoppers are ...

Railway Strikes Around 50% of Great Britain’s railway network will be operational when staff walk out on strike this week (on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are leading strikes over disputes on pay and redundancies. This will also coincide with a strike on Tuesday (21st June) across London’s Underground. Overall, the Government’s Network Rail has warned that this will create six days of disruption across ...

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