
MPs and the Government respond after cross-party committee labels system “broken”. The Government has pledged to review all parental leave and pay entitlements, confirming scope across the board and promising day-one rights from 2026. Campaigners say that urgent action is still needed to extend and raise paternity leave.

AI is transforming corporate operations, from efficiency to ESG reporting. But alongside opportunity comes reputational risk. George Coleman, CEO of The PHA Group, examines how businesses can balance AI’s promise with its pitfalls — from fraud and content misuse to the future of jobs.

Britain sees 84 new companies launched every hour in 2025. More than 363,000 businesses were registered from January to June 2025, despite a 21% decline from the previous year. Reforms and low SME confidence contributed to the decrease.

Presenteeism is costing UK businesses far more than absenteeism. A growing body of research shows that while sickness absence is tightly monitored and managed, the hidden cost of employees working while unwell is vastly greater. Experts warn that companies may be measuring the wrong thing.

Nvidia has revealed a major investment of up to £11 billion into the UK’s AI ecosystem. This project aims to create the largest GPU cluster in Europe by 2026, utilising 120,000 of Nvidia’s most recent Blackwell Ultra chips in new data centres.

SEON secures $80m Series C funding led by Sixth Street. The AI-driven fraud prevention platform, based in Budapest and Austin, serves clients like Revolut and Spotify. It aims to enhance fraud detection and compliance amidst rising regulatory pressures.

UK labour market cools as payrolls fall and wage growth slows. The Office for National Statistics reports an 8,000 drop in payroll employment in August, with wage growth also decelerating. Unemployment remains steady, but vacancies continue to decline.

HMRC loses £836m to tax loophole abuse, exceeding estimates. The practice of ‘phoenixing’ has significantly impacted HMRC’s ability to collect taxes, with losses reaching £836m in the 2022-23 tax year, surpassing previous estimates by 45 per cent.

LNER warns passengers after supplier breach exposes data. London North Eastern Railway (LNER) advises customers to stay alert following a cyber-attack on a third-party supplier, which revealed contact details and some journey history. No financial data or ticketing systems were compromised.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison surpasses Elon Musk in wealth. Oracle’s stock surged over 40%, increasing Ellison’s net worth by $101 billion, highlighting the immense wealth generated by the AI boom reshaping technology fortunes.