Small biz MoneySaving

I wondered if anyone has any experiences (good or bad) of taking a business energy dispute to the ombudsman? I am trying to do this, but am struggling to get a deadlock letter so I can proceed. I did speak with the ombudsman, who seemed very helpful on the phone, but then simply referred me to Citizens Advice to answer…

Bionic energy broker have auto-renewed my gas contract with Yu Energy and awarded themselves an £800 commision, for me staying on the same contract with the same company. They claim this is fair and proportionate, and that I agreed to them doing it (by not reading an email they sent). Ombudsman is a joke. Stay far far away…

I know they don't have the same rights as consumers so just curious what rights they have. A manager with no idea about tech got told by BT that their PSTN line was being discontinued and they need to upgrade to digital. He agreed but clearly must not have noticed the 5 year contract!!!!!! 5 years!!!!! How easy would it be…

So there have been quite a few glitches with booking.com recently. a, they changed my bookings to instant bookings without my knowledge b, They, suddenly started sending my notification emails to my safety email address, which I do not check. c, they have been paying me on the wrong payout date Recently, I had to cancel a…

Following on from my earlier thread about payment checks and Open Banking, I’ve been trying to understand whether there’s much real-world difference between the various providers/services behind these systems. A lot of them seem to offer similar features on paper, but I’m more interested in the practical side — things like…

Hi, I am a sole trader and for the tax year 2025/26 I only earned £3000 as I had to take a long time off due to illness for which I claimed an amount of DWP eesa but ended up still way under the personal allowance. My question is should I still claim expenses eg. Vehicle service,tax MOT. Public liability insurance etc on…

I’m starting to notice a pattern with a few project-based clients and wondered how other small businesses handle it professionally. The work itself gets reviewed and approved quickly, communication is great throughout the project, but once the final invoice is sent things suddenly slow down. Replies become vague, finance…

Having been involved in self-employment, business ownerships, partnerships etc., I have several Government Gateway emails and logins appropriate to each. The new GOV.UK One Login seems to be encouraging just one login, although depending on how it is introduced and presented, it seems that you can end up with more than one…

Hi, I'm new to the forum and joined as I simply cannot find the answer to this question anywhere. I've tried the HMRC VAT Helpline but it just seems to be a never-ending queue to speak to someone. For over 10 years I've run a small limited company. As most of the turnover is profit (very low costs), I've been able to…

About 15 years ago after retiring I set up a Limited Company to put through my very small amount of consultancy work. And by small amount, I mean just that, single figure thousands. I set it up as a Limited Company rather than as a sole trader because it was more glamorous to be a director of a Company. A rather silly…

Hi, I am having problems with companies house identity verification. Like many people I had quite a few problems registering my identity: see e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1odxja8/companies_house_id_check_failing_i_need_to_verify/…

We’ve started noticing more situations where invoices are issued to one company name, but the actual bank transfer arrives from a different entity or account name entirely. Sometimes it’s clearly a parent company or related trading name, other times it’s much less obvious. At small scale it’s mostly just an…

Something I’ve noticed recently in a small business/admin role is that customers often seem more frustrated when they don’t know what’s happening than by a short delay itself. For example, if a transfer/refund/order is taking longer than expected but there’s clear communication and updates, most people seem fairly…

Hello all, I wonder if anyone had any thoughts on this. I recently started using FreeAgent, but because I'm cheap I'm using the Landlords version. I only provide a service and don't sell products. Does anyone know if this will be ok with the taxman? The landlord version gives me everything I need, Landlord is £10 and…

I would like to know what happens to an order from the court requesting the claimant to serve a document on the defendant by a deadline if the defendant dies before this deadline expires .I would like to know if an order to strike out a claim because the claimant has failed to serve a document on time on the Defendant is…

Hi everyone, I need some advice regarding opening a business. I have never opened or done business and neither has anyone in my family so I thought this would be a good place to ask. My friends and I (there are 3 of us) are looking to open a children's residential care home in London. We are each investing an equal amount…

I’m in the process of setting up my small business which is home based baking and catering for small events. It’s an idea I have been brewing for a few years now and I have practiced with baking various things (always enjoyed and been good at basic baking) and have been practicing cake decorating techniques and taking my…

Hi I don't often post on forums, but HSBC Business Banking has left me enraged. I own and run a small building maintenance company, one of the company credit cards has stopped working, I called the customer services to resolve. I was passed to 6 different people over the course of an hour, asked to verify myself 4 times…

I work in a small business where overdue invoice follow-ups seem to end up back with the same people who originally dealt with the customer. It’s becoming quite time-consuming, especially when most of the work is just sending reminders and checking whether payment has arrived yet. I’ve been looking at whether automated…

I help with admin/accounts for a small IT services business and overdue invoices are becoming a bit of a time drain. At the moment reminders are mostly manual emails and follow-ups, which works but takes more time as client numbers grow. I’ve recently come across systems that can automate payment requests/reminders…