New day one rights to parental leave set to enter force from April. Over 18 million workers across the UK to benefit from stronger protections at work, with most insecure workers set to gain the most.
Total UK retail footfall increased by 2% in the week to 4 January 2026, compared with the previous week, but decreased by 1% when compared with the equivalent week of 2025 (BT Active Intelligence). Almost two-thirds (65%) of trading businesses reported that they had cash reserves in late December 2025.
Scotland's Displaced Workers Scheme signals the type of country the government is working to create, according to First Minister John Swinney. The £500,000 scheme is helping employers recruit international workers who are already in the UK and find themselves without sponsored employment.
UK Latin America Minister visits Ecuador to deepen security ties and work to disrupt cocaine trade at source. UK Latin America Minister visits Ecuador to deepen security ties and work to disrupt cocaine trade at source.
Victims of the Home Office Windrush scandal will continue to receive dedicated advocacy support. £600,000 has been made available under the second year of the 3-year £1.5million Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund (WCASF) which launched last April.
Do you need to think about who owns your assets..
Artificial intelligence is often presented as a growth driver. I argue the opposite risk is emerging.
Tesco is bringing back the iconic blue-and-white striped "Value" branding that it scrapped over a decade ago. The reintroduction is part of a major marketing push to highlight low prices amid the ongoing cost of living crisis and it started on 5 January 2026.
Buying a house is stressful enough without worrying about how much tax you'll owe on top of the purchase price. In the UK, the rules differ sharply between England (where Stamp Duty Land Tax, SDLT applies) and Scotland (where the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, LBTT applies).
When Scotland's Finance Secretary stands up next week (Tuesday 13 January 2026) to deliver the Budget, the biggest danger may not be what is announced but what quietly disappears. Behind the headlines on tax and public services lies a looming problem that threatens roads, housing, hospitals and long-term growth: Scotland's capital budget is under severe strain, and the numbers no longer add up.
or decades, income tax has been one of the most visible ways governments influence wealth distribution. In the UK, the system is now split.
Fewer people entering the workforce means less tax income. Immigration especially of working-age people boosts the size of the labour force.
If you've been to a supermarket recently, you're not imagining it — everyday food prices in the UK have been climbing again after a period of relative calm, and some staples are experiencing surprisingly steep increases that go well beyond the usual suspects of bread, milk, cheese and meat. According to the latest shop-price indexes, overall food price inflation is running at over 3%-4% — higher than general inflation and higher than many households would like to see.
As Scotland awaits next Tuesday's Budget, a familiar anxiety is resurfacing in households across the country: how much more will council tax rise — and how much worse can it get?. Nowhere is that question more pressing than in Highland, where the council's finances are already stretched to breaking point.
For decades, the "Saturday job" was more than a way for teenagers to earn pocket money — it was an important bridge into the world of work, teaching responsibility, teamwork and basic workplace skills. But those jobs — shelf-stacking, cafe shifts, newspaper rounds and shop errands — are vanishing.
It's official - Britain's hospitality sector is bleeding out. More than 3,000 pubs and restaurants have vanished in the past three years, with closures accelerating in 2025.
Buying a home is rarely a simple decision, and in Scotland, the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) adds another layer of complexity. Introduced in 2015, LBTT replaced the UK-wide Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for residential property transactions in Scotland.
It's the tax nobody talks about until it's too late and for thousands of young Scots trying to buy their first proper home, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is the silent sledgehammer that turns a dream into a debt spiral. House Prices Up.
Law change will give social landlords greater control to transfer tenancies from abusers to victims. Regulations have been laid in Parliament that will make it easier for victims of domestic abuse to remain safely in their homes with the tenancy in their name.
From Tariffs to defence Trump is spending the same dollars over and over. Spending more on defence than the next nine countries combined.
