38. Weekly Newsletter

The Queen’s Funeral On Monday, 19th September 2022, The Queen’s state funeral took place at Westminster Abbey in the presence of over 500 heads of state and dignitaries among the 2,000 guests. Her Majesty’s “lifelong sense of duty” was remembered as King Charles III led the televised procession behind his mother’s coffin from Westminster Hall. Afterwards, the coffin travelled to Windsor Castle for a committal ceremony with around 800 guests at ...

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Updates from Member Companies

We are are always curious about the challenges and possibilities our member companies are facing within their industries. This week we are happy to share updates from Edrington and Essity on their commitment to the Race to Zero. Edrington Edrington, announced that it is joining the Carbon Disclosure Project as part of it’s larger strategy towards reaching Net Zero by 2045. By joining, Edrington commits to annually reporting environmental-related data in accordance ...

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36. Weekly Newsletter

About Liz Truss The Rt Hon Liz Truss has won the race to be the new leader of the Conservative Party and from Tuesday (6th July 2022) will be the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Truss won 57% of the vote on the promise of a “bold plan” to cut taxes and tackle the energy crisis. The new leader has served as the MP for an ultra-safe seat in ...

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35. Weekly Newsletter

UK Cost of Energy UK households face a new 80% rise in energy bills from October as a typical gas and electricity bill will rise to £3,549 (from £1,971) in October 2022. Ofgem, Britain’s energy regulator, made the announcement on Friday but industry consultants now estimate that this will likely rise up to £6,600 by the Spring. The regulator also stated that the previous £15bn of government support (£400 to every ...

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BSCC Members on Cyber Security

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 ...

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34. Weekly Newsletter

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 ...

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33. Weekly Newsletter

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 ...

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32. Weekly Newsletter

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 ...

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31. Weekly Newsletter

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 ...

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26. Weekly Newsletter

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 ...

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