Boris Johnson appears to be at odds with his government as he reiterates there are “significant benefits” to working from the office despite his government pressing ahead with plans to strengthen employees’ rights to stay at home if they wish.

The prime minister has expressed his determination that office life, and in particular city centres, will return closer to normal once the threat of coronavirus recedes. But parts of the government are working on ways to give people new freedoms to set their own working patterns.

The government will launch a consultation later this year on how to improve existing rights for people to request flexible working from their employers.

The plans will consider ways to ensure that people who have moved to a hybrid of home and office working during the pandemic will be able to maintain that pattern.

At present employees can formally ask for changes to their … Read the rest

A property developer who took out a bridging loan in 2019 has reclaimed £8,200 in wrongly charged loan interest and fees thanks to Yorkshire start-up Secured Lending Auditing.

The firm, which checks commercial loans and mortgages for any mismanagement that could result in a refund back to the borrower, was instructed to perform a specialist commercial finance audit by the client.

Through the use of bespoke software and a review of the loan documents, several issues were identified with the way the loan was managed by the lender revealing the borrower was overcharged for the fees and interest.

Michael May, founder of Secured Lending Auditing commented: “Being able to get this client the money which they deserve, especially during such a difficult time for businesses, is the whole reason why I set up Secured Lending Auditing.

“There have been too many horror stories over the years of banks who have … Read the rest

The boss of Morgan Stanley, one of the biggest banks on Wall Street, has said he will be “very disappointed” if staff are not back in its offices by September.

James Gorman said that employees who want to be paid at “New York rates” need to work in the city. He told a conference yesterday that if people feel safe enough to go out to a restaurant, they can also go into their workplace.

Some of the world’s most powerful investment banks are taking an increasingly firm stance on employees returning to the office after the widespread shift to home-working since March last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan, which is America’s biggest bank, said last month that he wanted staff back in the office because remote-working is not good for young people and “doesn’t work for those who want to hustle” or … Read the rest

Leading UK tech companies are joining forces to accelerate progress to net zero, support tech companies in making a climate action plan and use tech to help the 100 million customers they serve live more sustainably.

The Tech Zero taskforce officially launches in London today and is targeting 1,000 members by COP26 this November.

The Tech Zero taskforce is led by Bulb co-founder and CEO Hayden Wood, industry body Tech Nation, and includes fast-growing British tech firms allplants, Babylon, Citymapper, Faculty, GoCardless, Habito, Hopin, Moneysupermarket Group, OLIO, Onfido, Revolut, Starling Bank, what3words and Wise.

These companies have transformed industries including banking, energy and healthcare, and are now coming together to boost the UK’s fight against the climate crisis.

Companies who join Tech Zero commit to measure all of their emissions and set an ambitious net zero target by the end of 2021. They’ll also commit to:

• Annually measure and publish

More than three quarters of SMEs with restrictive budgets are struggling to compete with bigger organisations due to the lack of access to innovative technology, impacting their ability to grow and enlist talent, according to new research.

The survey found some 84 per cent of small businesses say they are unable to keep up with the bigger budgets of larger organisations for technology innovation and digital transformation, with nearly half saying it is restricting growth and nearly the same number saying it has impacted their ability to recruit.

Combined with the impact of COVID-19, a lack of fit-for-purpose technology options and prohibitive costs could lead to many SMEs losing out long-term if they do not take advantage of more flexible and cost-effective solutions.

The research found Technology concerns moved way beyond operational efficiencies, however. A third of businesses surveyed said they felt they were exposed to cyber security risks by … Read the rest