On the Spot

This week Nick and Jo discuss the December inflation jump to 0.6%, up from 0.3% in November. Despite facing a Christmas in lockdown, many people rushed to travel and beat Christmas restrictions, forcing up prices. Also on the agenda are the continued woes of the retail sector, with UK card spending 35% below pre-pandemic levels in the second week of January. To further compound this misery, the Centre for Retail Research are predicting 200,000 more retail job losses in the first half of 2021. Also covered is the freight traffic slump, with the volume of lorries passing between Britain and Europe down significantly this month due to soaring costs and Brexit friction.

The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of small firms receiving payments from business interruption insurance policies, with up to 370,000 small businesses set to benefit from the pay-outs. The UK economy has edged towards a double-dip recession, after official November GDP figures confirmed another slump fuelled by the second national lockdown. GDP fell 2.6% in November, less than analysts had forecast, but still leaves the economy 8.5% below pre-pandemic levels. Nick and Jo give a more detailed, sectoral breakdown of the figures with one industry returning to a pre-pandemic output level. Also covered in the episode are the consultations about filings at Companies House. These consultations are aimed at reducing fraud through misuse of UK companies and improving the information about companies held at Companies House.

2021 is here and the nation once again finds itself in lockdown as coronavirus continues to ravage the country. Further economic packages have been agreed and previous support measures extended. Nick and Jo discuss the impact of the lockdown on businesses, for many industries the outlook was bleak even before Christmas and there's no sign of things improving anytime soon. Also covered is the Brexit trade deal that was finally agreed after much toing and froing, with a key talking point being how the deal will affect the trade of goods. 

Dominating the news this week has been Boris Johnson's trip to Brussels in the hope to salvage a trade deal for the UK. Nick and Jo discuss Brexit, as pressure continues to mount on UK ports due to the effects of coronavirus, and the threat of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. Also covered in the episode are the October GDP figures that were published yesterday, with a marginal recovery of 0.4%, still leaving the economy some 7.9% lower than pre-pandemic levels.

This week saw two of the biggest names in British retail fall into administration, Debenhams and Arcadia. These failures will have a considerable impact on supply chains, motivating Nick and Jo to discuss supply chain management, and the reality that no business operates as an island. They also take a look at the ways in which Governments around the world have reacted to try to mitigate COVID-19’s impact, by changing or amending their insolvency laws.

Last Wednesday, Rishi Sunak delivered his spending review amid the harsh economic effects of coronavirus and the UK's mounting debt pile. Nick and Jo take a closer look at the details and discuss what the future implications could be for different sectors of the economy. Also covered in the episode is the further suspension of wrongful trading and Sir Philp Green's Arcadia group, which looks set to fall into administration today...

As we approach December 2nd and the easing of lockdown restrictions, Nick and Jo discuss the impact the return of the tiering system could have on certain sectors of the economy. Early indications are that gyms and non-essential retail will be allowed to open, but hospitality will still be somewhat locked down. There was also further good news of another vaccine, however there is still a very difficult winter ahead to navigate for many businesses. Also covered in the episode, is the high court ruling on final salary pension schemes... 

The UK economy grew by a record 15.5% in the third quarter, but the second lockdown could derail recovery. The Q3 bounce marks the UK's sharpest quarterly expansion since records began, but GDP is still 8.2% lower than February 2020 levels. It's also crunch time for the retail sector, COVID-19 will accelerate the clearance of dead wood from the retail forest and only the nimblest of retailers with good management, a sound business model and an attractive customer offering will flourish post-pandemic.

England entered another national lockdown on Thursday that is expected to last for a month. With that comes obvious economic impacts, Nick and Jo discuss the issues that will arise and the swift U-turn the government made to keep the Furlough Scheme running throughout the winter, postponing the Job Support Scheme that was due to launch...

This week, Nick and Jo start by rounding up the economic indicators from eurozone countries that were released this morning. They then take a deep dive into the ONS impact of coronavirus survey, which contains some very eye-opening results. With the new job support scheme coming into force on Monday, attention is turned to the cash flow squeeze many businesses are likely to suffer as a consequence of reduced government funding.