Audit sector ‘failing society and needs reform’ warns think tank April 21, 2021 The UK’s audit sector is “failing society” by coming up short when assessing firms’ finances and governance, leaving the door open to costly, Carillion-style business collapses, according to think tank IPPR. The think tank said there is an “expectation gap” between what audit currently assesses and what it needs to assess to fulfil the [...]
Quarter of people meant to isolate after arriving in the UK are not checked for compliance April 20, 2021 Up to a quarter of people who are meant to isolate at home when entering the UK from abroad do not get checked on by the authorities, the Home Office has admitted. In a letter to MP Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, home secretary Priti Patel admitted that for the week [...]
Pubs and restaurants to reopen in Scotland next Monday April 20, 2021 Scotland will reopen its pubs and restaurants for the first time in months from Monday 26 April, in a move that broadly brings Scotland into line with England’s current Covid-19 restrictions. Cafes, restaurants and beer gardens can open, along with shops, gyms, libraries and museums as lockdown eases. Rules and restrictions around the precise nature [...]
Lloyd’s of London to set up Manchester hub April 20, 2021 Lloyd’s of London plans to set up a Manchester ‘hub’ that will house a number of digital roles, locally sourced from Manchester’s talent pool. The insurer said the new hub should be up and running by January 2022, and those working in Manchester will be offered flexible working. The hub will focus on enhancing Lloyd’s [...]
BA looks set to recover from pandemic, so why are its 40-something pilots giving up their gold-plated pensions? April 20, 2021 In turbulent times, when the future of a company is being called into question, it is not uncommon for staff to transfer out of their employer’s defined benefit (DB) pension scheme, if they have one. Although seen as “gold-plated”, some DB scheme members worry about their scheme falling to the pension lifeboat fund, and that [...]
Furious landlord kicks Keir Starmer out of Bath pub following heated row over lockdown restrictions April 19, 2021 A furious pub landlord today shouted at Labour leader Keir Starmer to “get out of my pub” following a heated exchange between the two about coronavirus restrictions. Rod Humphris, landlord of The Raven pub in Bath, shouted “that man is not allowed in my pub” while being restrained by a person who appeared to be [...]
John Lewis gets to work on Peter Jones Sloane Square facelift April 19, 2021 John Lewis has begun a multi-million pound renovation of its Peter Jones store in Sloane Square. The facelift will see the store given a curved glass façade, ground floor shop windows, entrances and canopy, and a new, larger, more accessible entrance on King’s Road, according to the Evening Standard. John Lewis has outline planning permissions, [...]
Ex-City law firm accountant jailed for stealing £400,000 from Clyde & Co April 19, 2021 A former Clyde & Co accountant has been banned from working in the legal profession after she stole £400,000 from the firm over the course of six years. Victoria Lucy Brown was convicted of one count of fraud by false representation at Guildford Crown Court in October 2019, having pleaded guilty to the offence. She [...]
Blacklist audit firms for fraud failures, urges Pirc April 19, 2021 Large audit firms that are deemed not to be working hard enough to root out corporate fraud will be blacklisted in this year’s annual shareholder meetings by Pirc. Pirc has urged investors have not to reappoint PwC, KPMG, EY or Grant Thornton because it believes they have not done enough to improve their fraud detection [...]
Shoppers flock back to the West End in grand reopening of London April 19, 2021 Following the easing of the lockdown the number of shoppers and visitors heading to the West End was more than expected, as shops in central London opened for the first time in months. In the first week following the easing of lockdown restrictions footfall in the West End stood at around 54 per cent of [...]