Plimsoll

With 1 in 4 care home workers poised to leave their jobs in the next 12 months, the hiring crisis in the sector is getting worse. The problem is already starting to spill over into the public sector with hospital beds blocked by infirm patients left with nowhere to go. Amid the cost of living crisis and near full employment, workers are telling their employers they simply cannot exist on the wages on offer in the sector.

Last week the American Retail giant Toys R Us, Inc filed for bankruptcy in North America to help restructure its debts.

Considering the slew of negative business news over the past 18 months, there has been a real dearth of corporate failures hitting the headlines recently.

Grain Merchant Wellgrain Ltd went into administration earlier this month owning at least £15m to almost 300 creditors.

While the drive to increase female representation in executive roles has long been a talking point for successive governments and think-tanks alike, Plimsoll has, for the first time ever, identified the tangible, overwhelming benefit female directors bring to company performance.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Never has that old proverb been more appropriate than in the times of historic crisis. From the economic carnage of the past 12 months, innovators have risen like a phoenix from the ashes of their closed primary markets. Companies that should have been the worst affected by the pandemic have shown that the entrepreneurial spirit always finds a way.

From crippling energy costs to distribution shortages and a dearth of available staff to manage the new post-Brexit trade barriers into key markets, who would be a food manufacturer in 2022?

It is clear that the UK retail market is changing. But before we accept the news that Maplin, Prezzo and New Look are suffering from a brutal winter, let's look at the full picture.

For the past couple of years, the headlines have been full of economic tales of woe and hardship. 2020 was dominated by existential crises as we wondered if life and business would ever get back to normal. The post-pandemic, Brexit reality of 2021 is one of the shortages in everything from CO₂ to people, while inflation, debt and potential interest rate rises have heightened fears of another painful economic bust.

The UK economy has seemed to be teetering on the edge of economic catastrophe for the past two years. Industries have shut down, routes to overseas markets have become a labyrinth of complexity and costs have ballooned.