As a small business owner, you’re probably aware of what customers do when they need services: they type in “electrician near me” or “wedding photographer Leeds” and tap the first Google business profiles they see. Unfortunately, if your business isn’t visible, the job goes to one that is.

For a lot of UK businesses, being there isn’t actually a given. The Government’s own UK Business Data Survey found that while 99% of large companies have a website, only 74% of micro-businesses and 65% of sole traders do.

Many more have websites, but inconsistent details scattered across the web: an old phone number on one directory, last year’s opening hours on another. To make being visible easier for small businesses, we’ve launched the Startups Business Toolkit, which helps businesses directly deals with these problems.

Are your customers actually finding you?

Run a free online health check, then get listed everywhere with a one-month free trial.

Run My Free Audit

Why accurate information is everything

Having inconsistent business information online can become costly. One recent survey found that 62% of consumers say they would avoid using a business if they found incorrect information about it online. In a world with so many options, a wrong address or a dead phone number is often all it takes for someone to move on to the next result.

The same research found that when people want to check out a local business, Google is by far the most trusted place they turn, used by 66% of consumers. This ranks ahead of Google Maps and, crucially, business websites.

Accuracy doesn’t just reassure customers; it can actually affects whether you appear in search results. Keeping identical name, address, and phone details across the web – what marketers call “NAP consistency” – is an important ranking factor that Google takes into account when serving users information. Mismatched or outdated details signal to Google that you’re not worth surfacing.

Being in the running

You probably know from searching for services yourself that the results that matter most are the small cluster of businesses shown at the very top of the map. Earning a place in that group is the difference between being one of the first names a customer considers and being buried on a second page almost nobody scrolls to.

For a local business, that placement is some of the most valuable space on the internet – and it’s won through accurate listings, genuine reviews and an up-to-date profile, not an advertising budget. You can spend all the money you like trying to get in customer’s faces, but as studies we referenced in the previous section show, it’s just not a replacement for an up to date and visible business profile.

Reviews are the tiebreaker

Once a customer can find you, reviews decide whether they choose you. The vast majority of people read reviews before contacting a local business, and a strong, recent set of them does more heavy lifting than any sales pitch.

Recency matters: shoppers trust reviews from the last few weeks far more than a wall of ratings from three years ago. A steady trickle of fresh reviews beats a stale pile every time — which is why collecting them shouldn’t be left to chance.

Recent reviews build consumer trust, and improves your businesses online viability.

How to check where you stand

You can’t fix what you can’t see. The new Startups Business Toolkit includes a free online health check: enter your business and it shows you, instantly, how you’re actually showing up – where your listings are accurate, where they’re missing, and how visible you are compared to where you should be. No sign-up, no card.

From there, the toolkit’s listings tool keeps your details correct across 50+ directories from a single dashboard. Update your business once, and Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook and the rest all update together – no logging into a dozen accounts.

Paydough and Startup’s presence analytics platform lets you track your online viability across multiple platforms. 

One month on us. Watch your local SEO improve

New users can put the full listings tool to work with a one-month free trial that doesn’t require you to hand over any credit card details.

During that time, you’ll be able to get listed everywhere your customers are searching, fix the gaps that have been holding you back, and watch your local visibility climb. While we take care of this heavy lifting, you can focus on what’s important – ensuring you customers have experiences that make them want to come back.

Crucially, if the platform is working for you, you can keep going; if not, you’ll be able to walk away having paid nothing.

Are your customers actually finding you?

Run a free online health check, then get listed everywhere with a one-month free trial.

Run My Free Audit

It’s officially become harder to turn pubs into housing or offices, with the updated Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) forcing developers to prove there is no reasonable prospect that the pub could stay open otherwise.

Spearheaded by housing secretary Angela Rayner, the new rules will come as welcome news to pub owners, with an average of two closing per day in 2026. 25% of pubs and restaurants currently operate at a loss.

But hospitality industry groups, the reception is more mixed, with UKHospitality claiming pubs are more vulnerable to rising taxes and employment costs than developer conversions – arguing the policy tackles a symptom rather than the cause.

Pubs gain new protections against being turned into commercial venues

All pubs in England have now received protection from being turned into homes and offices, as part of a push by the labour government to tackle widespread pub closures.

This new rule replaces previous planning protections that only covered the”last pub” in a community area, meaning any pub with a rival nearby could be converted into flats, offices, or shops with relatively little scrutiny. 

In order for developers to overpower the new rules, they will need to provide evidence that a pub has no reasonable prospect of staying in operation – including proof it has been on the market for at least a year. 

The rules also set out to stop pub owners from deliberately running down trade in order to justify a closure, in an attempt to protect pubs with a track record of being successful. 

With 412 pubs across England and Wales being lost through conversion or demolition in England and Wales in 2024 alone, these new protections will undoubtedly provide relief to landlords and communities fighting to keep their locals open. 

However, the updated NPPF plans haven’t been welcomed by all. The Real Estate UK policy director Ion Fletcher has warned the government’s plan could “blight high streets” by forcing developers to wait 12 months before pubs are able to be repurposed.

New rules don’t go far enough to protect pubs, trade groups claims

Rayner’s new protections have also been met with mixed responses within the hospitality industry itself, with major trade bodies arguing they don’t go far enough to tackle the root problem of closures. 

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, chief executive of UKHospitality Allen Simpson argues “The biggest issue facing hospitality businesses is costs like VAT and business rates pushing pubs out of business in the first place.”

“You can legislate to stop a pub being sold as a flat but what you can’t do is legislate to force them to stay open if they’re not viable”. 

Simpson’s comments echo concerns raised by The Real Estate UK, that the changes could result in empty unusable premises over open pubs.

He explains unless the government works to cut running costs “what we’ll be left with is not pubs which are open but actually just empty premises because they can’t be used as a pub or a house”.

The government has already taken small steps to ease these cost pressures, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently announcing a 20% cut to business rates for pubs and music venues, on top of existing support, in an effort to give the industry “breathing space”. 

However, critics argue the relief only scratches the surface of what is necessary to really provide relief for the sector. 

Ultimately, the new changes should go a way towards slowing the tide of pub closures across England, but as the industry continues to be squeezed by mounting cost pressures, pub owners will also need to focus on their own financial viability if they want to keep their doors open for good.

Fast-fashion behemoth Shein has lost a UK High Court copyright battle against Temu, in a ruling that sets a major precedent for how far online marketplaces are legally responsible for what images their third-party sellers post. 

Shein accused Temu of allowing merchants to steal photos directly from its website on an “industrial scale” – a claim that fell flat as Temu was found to have neither authorised nor known about the alleged infringement. 

For small UK sellers using platforms like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay, where product image theft is commonplace, the case raises an awkward question: if a retail giant couldn’t win this fight, what chance do independent sellers have of protecting their imagery?

Shein loses major copyright lawsuit against rival Temu

In a new chapter of the ongoing rivalry between Temu vs Shein, Shein lost its London lawsuit against Temu after a High Court judge rejected its attempt to hold the company liable for copyrighted clothing photos uploaded by third-party sellers on the platform. 

Shein accused Temu of widespread infringements, claiming the platform allowed merchants to use photos lifted directly from its website to advertise clothing sold on Temu. 

The dispute originally involved thousands of Temu listings, but this was later reduced to a smaller group of sample images, including a “Strawberry Nightdress” that had been delisted from Shein due to poor sales, before appearing on Temu with the same image. 

Shein argued that Temu had actively enabled sellers on the platform to misuse its copyrighted images. Mrs Justice Bacon rejected this claim, ruling that Temu “did not authorise copyright infringement by users of its website”, and that the website didn’t know, or had reason to believe, the photos infringed Shein’s copyright. 

Ultimately, while this ruling marks a huge loss for Shein, the consequences of the trial ripple beyond major online retailers to smaller sellers who lack the time and resources to bring copyright cases to trial.

What this lawsuit means for independent online sellers

For the ~500,000 strong community online sellers in the UK, the takeaway from this case is bleak. If your photo gets copied, the realistic target of copyright infringement is the seller who copied it, not the marketplace hosting them.

For small businesses with little resources, this often results in a slow, low-value fight against an anonymous or overseas account, rather than a swift resolution from the marketplace itself. 

This doesn’t mean that victims of copyright infringements are left empty-handed, though. Sending out hyper-precise takedown notices, which clearly identify the specific infringing listing, prove ownership of the image, and leave no room for doubt, is much harder for large platforms to ignore.

Once a marketplace has received a claim with that level of detail, it can no longer claim that it lacked knowledge of an infringement, which was a core part of Temu’s defence. 

While this ruling doesn’t strip sellers of protection completely, it does redraw the parameters of who’s expected to enforce it. Rather than relying on marketplaces to police copyright on behalf of sellers, independent sellers now carry more of the burden themselves.

While this might seem like a step in the wrong direction for sellers hoping platforms would shoulder more responsibility, there are proactive steps you can take today, before infringement happens.

In a time when social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok act as the new shop window for e new shop window for customers, having an active presence has become a non-negotiable for founders – whatever their industry or size. 

Unfortunately, social media management can be a pretty big time drain. According to a 2026 analysis by Glow Social, most founders now spend between 12 and 40 hours on social media a month – equating roughly to the workload of a part-time employee, squeezed into an already full week.

For founders already juggling multiple pressures, this is often a workload that has to be absorbed elsewhere. So, we spoke to founders directly, to find out how true to life these figures are, where exactly that time goes, and what strategies they’re using to keep it under control.

Algorithm fear is pushing many founders to manage the process themselves

For many businesses, generating content isn’t done with the help of a marketing team – it’s a process founders manage themselves. According to findings from Markel, 77% of founders manage their own social media, executing all tasks involved in content creation on top of their daily responsibilities.  

This workload comes with a psychological cost as much of a time one. Ed van der Lande, founder of More Toddler Meals, is candid about the pressure around staying visible on social media: “There’s a fair bit of that and concern that if I post less or irregularly I’ll get punished by the algorithm” van der Lande tells us.

‘I’m hopeful that the biggest arbiter of a successful food business is the quality of the final product. But if a new founder were to ask me if they should be on social media or not, I’d say that they almost certainly should.”

Ineke Nugteren, CEO of healthy snack company Nourish, shares this sense of obligation. “There’s real pressure to keep showing up just to stay visible, and that can feel like a necessary evil – content for the sake of not disappearing rather than content you’re excited to make.”

However, Nugteren still sees real value in posting when it’s done with intention. “When it’s done well, it’s also one of the clearest ways to show people what you’re actually about as a brand and a founder. It’s both those things at once for me” she tells us.

Both founders are in agreement that while content may not directly drive up sales, going quiet on social media is a risk that’s too big to take, even if this means taking on the role of content creator themselves, on top of an already full workload.

This poses the question: How can founders stay on top of their already full workload without burning out?

Being smart about workflow is helping founders avoid overwhelm

Given the fact that founders don’t have unlimited time to pour into managing their feeds, many are getting creative with how they choose to spend the time that they do have – from batch-creating content to repurposing valuable content. 

For example, instead of letting social content balloon to fill whatever spare time it’s given, Connor Gillvan, founder of TrioSEO, sets aside dedicated time to manage the process.

“The key is making it part of the schedule instead of allowing it to interrupt the entire week. Batching ideas, creating content in fixed sessions, and turning one strong idea into several posts makes the workload much more manageable.”

Ben Price, co-founder of home energy installer Heatable, follows a similar playbook. He spends three to five hours a week on content, which is notably lower than the average time UK founders are spending on social media. Price puts this down to treating content as something that emerges from the work itself, not something separate. 

“If we’re installing an interesting system, testing a new product or hearing the same customer question repeatedly, that becomes the starting point… It is far more manageable — and usually far more authentic — than trying to invent content from scratch.”

For founders who want to stay hands-on, these examples prove that clever workflow solutions can save real time. By using your time wisely and treating content as a byproduct of other work rather than a separate task, you’re able to maximise output without maxing out your week.

Delegation remains key for founders with the resources

Not every founder has the option to hand social media tasks off to members of their team, but for those who do, delegation can be used as a valuable way to protect their time without sacrificing their business’s feed. 

Dentist and founder of Invisalign company Invisablebraces4u, Dr Soumaya Zinet, told us she’s able to rely on team members to handle the day-to-day social production: “I don’t personally have to do every part of the process… there is a team around me who can help with filming, editing, planning.”

“I think that is the key to making social media sustainable. If the business depends on the owner personally doing everything, eventually it becomes exhausting.”

Dr Nikki Ramskill, founder of The Female Health Doctor Clinic, shared a similar experience. By relying on her team to plan, create, and schedule content, she was able to stick to the tasks that she enjoyed.

“I have a lovely company helping me to be consistent. We plan out the content in advance and they create and schedule everything for me. It has made my life so much easier and far more enjoyable now. All I need to do is make the videos which I love doing.” 

For both Zinet and Ramskill, delegation isn’t about stepping back from social media completely, it’s what makes the process more sustainable in the long run. 

Many founders play an active role in social media strategy while delegating certain tasks too. For example, Matt Hunt, co-founder of The Protein Ball Co believes that even with support in place, he and his co-founder Hayley feel it’s important to stay personally involved.

“We have support with content now, which makes a huge difference, but as a founder-led business we still want Hayley and me to be genuinely involved and maintain that connection with our audience.“ Hunt tells us. 

However, with most founders forced to wear many hats, outsourcing tasks to the rest of the team simply isn’t an option they can afford. Instead, taking a smarter approach to your existing workload can give you back time without sacrificing your social media visibility. Here’s how to put that into practice. 

For 25 years, Startups.co.uk has been asked the same question by budding entrepreneurs: how do I actually start and run a business?

We know the answer isn’t simple. Finding the time to ensure you’re visible online and secure new customers whilst also putting in the hours needed to both maintain and grow your business is something almost all businesses struggle with.

That’s why we’re launching the Startups Business Toolkit: a suite of tools, powered by small-business platform Paydough, that will help you get found, get booked and get paid while you focus on the running and growing.

Today, being visible on Google, Apple, Maps, Siri and ChatGPT, collecting reviews and sending proper invoices are non-negotiables – which is why it’s all the more shocking that only 74% of micro-businesses and 65% of sole traders have websites. Being able to do all three of these things, from one place just makes everything easier. Here’s a little intro to what we’ve got on offer for you.

The Startups Business Toolkit is Live

Get found, get chosen, get paid – try it free for one month, no card required.

Create Your Free Account

One dashboard, three jobs

The first pillar, Get Found, syncs a business’s details – name, address, phone, opening hours – to more than 50 online directories at once, including Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook and the emerging AI search tools.

Update once, and the change pushes everywhere, closing the gaps that quietly send customers to a competitor.

Paydough’s Get Found feature pushes your business details to over 50 online directories.

The second, Get Chosen, helps owners collect and manage reviews automatically, building the kind of public reputation that turns a search result into a booking.

The third, Get Paid, lets them send branded, professional invoices with a payment link built in – so a client can settle up by card in a couple of taps, instead of being asked to dig out their banking app and type in a sort code.

In the platforms ‘Get Paid’ toolkit, businesses can use financial analytics to track invoicing trends, expected vs actual revenue, and more.

We’ve always believed great advice should lead to real results. The Startups Business Toolkit is the natural next step for us, as it puts practical tools in the hands of the people who need them most. Whether you’re a freelancer sending your first invoice or a tradesperson who wants more customers finding you online, this platform is built for you.

Zohra Huda Editor, Startups.co.uk

Built for the smallest businesses, not the biggest

The timing reflects a hard truth about the UK economy. Micro-businesses – those with fewer than ten people – account for the overwhelming majority of the country’s firms. Yet most business software is designed, priced and named for much larger businesses with enough cash to stump up hundreds of pounds for subscriptions.

The toolkit is designed as a deliberate departure from this. We know how cash flow problems impact smaller firms, so we’ve ensured you can try the software for free – no credit card details are required. There are paid plans you can choose from once your one month trial is over, as well as a completely free plan that includes invoicing and payment functionality.

Importantly, the toolkit lets you act on that advice in the same session they read it – registering as self-employed on one tab and setting up your listings and invoicing on the next. Payments in the toolkit are processed by Stripe, which is FCA-regulated, so the money side meets the same standards a founder would expect from their bank.

Having spent 25 years as the UK’s go-to library of guides on winning customers, managing cash flow and building an online presence, this is a really exciting next step for us – and your business, too. Sign up for the Startups Business Toolkit today, and let us do the heavy lifting.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has brought his plans to ban subscription traps forward to January, ahead of their original spring timeline. The move is part of a series of everyday fixes he’s rolling out to help lower the cost of living. 

Subscription traps have long been a sore point for consumers, with difficult cancel processes costing UK households an estimated £1.6 billion a year in unwanted subscriptions.

To avoid facing penalties, some online retailers will need to overhaul how they handle subscriptions, including giving clearer information at sign-up, sending customers regular reminders about subscriptions, and giving customers a 14-day cooling off period after a free trial ends.

Burnham is banning subscription traps in clamp down on rip-off business practices

Online subscriptions continue to be huge revenue drivers for UK online retail stores, with research from Finder showing that  88% of UK adults use at least one subscription service. 

However, for many customers, this convenience has come with a trade-off. According to the Department of Business and Trade, there are currently almost 10 million unwanted, active subscriptions across the UK, with a further 1.3 million users caught out by auto-renewals. 

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham recognizes this problem, and his plan to prohibit subscription traps to give consumers “room to breathe” amid rising costs has been brought forward to January 2027. The government estimates these changes would save consumers up to £400 million a year in total – working out to around £170 per person. 

In addition to these proposed changes, Burnham is also outlawing shops from falsely claiming products have been retailed at much higher prices, as he believes this tricks shoppers into thinking they are getting a much better deal then they are.

How to vet you cancellation processes to avoid penalties

With the ban now just months away from being enforced, now is a good time for retail businesses to review their sign-up and cancellation processes.

Businesses that fail to comply with the pending regulations risk being levied with fines, and being named and shamed by customer groups like Which?, which has vowed to expose companies using “dodgy deals”.

Non-compliance could also damage customer trust. As cost of living pressures force customers to scrutinise their spending more closely, buyers continue moving towards brands they trust, and avoiding those that make it difficult for them to leave.

It doesn’t need to come to this though, as long as you get ahead of the changes, rather than waiting until January to act.

Making Tax Digital’s (MTDs) first quarterly deadline passed on the 7th of August. If you missed it, you’re in good company, with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) estimating that around 400,000 self-employed workers and landlords are yet to submit updates. 

For those that did miss the Making Tax Digital deadline: the good news is that there are no penalties (yet). This is due to the government’s one-year ‘soft landing’ period which shields taxpayers from late-filing penalty points on their first year of updates. 

However, instead of burying your head in the sand, there are important steps you should take to getting caught out by HMRC in the future. We break down what you can do now, and how not to miss the next one.

MTD first quarterly deadline has passed, and almost half of sole traders missed it

Love it, or (more likely) hate it, MTD became mandatory for self-employed workers and landlords earning over £50,000 from the 6th of April 2026. 

The system replaces the old annual tax return with quarterly digital updates on income and expenses submitted through HMRC-approved software, and is part of a wider push by the government to modernise the tax system. 

The first official update was due on the 7th of August, catching around 400,000 out of the 850,000 taxpayers that are mandated to join the scheme, according to new estimates from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. 

This leaves over half of the mandated cohort without live compliance, ahead of what’s being described as the biggest tax reform in a generation. Missing this deadline won’t result in immediate penalties, though, due to HMRC’s 12-month soft landing period, which is designed to give people breathing room when they get to grips with the new process. 

However, according to ACCA senior technical advisory manager Yogesh Dhanak, this grace period shouldn’t be misunderstood as a carte blanche – other penalties may still apply.

“While HMRC has confirmed a 12-month soft-landing period where late filing points won’t be issued for these initial quarterly updates, taxpayers must not treat this as a free pass,” Dhanak explains.

“HMRC can still penalise businesses for failing to keep digital records or for deliberately withholding information.”

If you’re a sole trader or landlord, these findings shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. Recent surveys have found MTD is so unpopular it’s driving 45% of self-employed workers to consider quitting the business model altogether. 

However, if you do remain as sole-trader and landlord, here are the steps you should take if you missed the deadline.

Accounting expert explains the six steps you should take if you missed the deadline

This week, Startups.co.uk spoke to accounting expert Dan Heelan, who provides weekly accounting advice to more than 70,000 subscribers, about the quarterly filing deadline

“If a sole trader has missed their first filing deadline, firstly don’t panic! There are no penalties currently for this as part of HMRC’s ‘soft landing’ approach” Heelan explains.

“However, to avoid getting further behind they should start keeping digital records in some accounting software that’s MTD compatible” he continued. “The biggest hurdle will be getting a digital book-keeping system up and running. For many people they might only be used to paper or a simple spreadsheet, which no longer works under Making Tax Digital.”

Dan's six-step plan to becoming MTD-compliant:

1. Research software options (everything from a spreadsheet style entry to a full accounting cloud software package)
2. Select / buy your software
3. Sign up to MTD with HMRC
4. Connect your software to MTD
5. Start book-keeping in the new system
6. Once complete, click the submit button on your quarterly update!

If you’d like to know the ins and outs of Making Tax Digital in a little more detail, check out Dan’s guide:

Loading

7th of November: save the date now

Looking ahead, the best way to avoid repeating this mistake is to be aware of MTD deadlines. They fall on the 7th of the month, immediately following the end of each three-month reporting period. 

It’s also recommended to establish digital record-keeping into your routine. By doing this, you’ll spend less time stressing before each quarterly deadline, and reduce the risks of future compliance risks. 

HMRC-approved software like Xero or QuickBooks offer low-cost or free plans for smaller sole traders and landlords, with useful features like automatic bank feeds and built-in reminders that flag deadlines before the day. 

Hopefully now you know that missing the first MTD deadline isn’t the end of the world. However, getting on track with compliance now could save you a lot of hassle in the future – especially after penalty points start being rolled out from 2027/2028.

July saw the biggest month-on-month rise in shop and high street footfall since 2016, fuelled by consistent spells of hot weather, and major events like the World Cup and summer concerts. 

Retailers that leaned into the sunnier weather – with summer activations and events – saw the biggest boost in sales, as heatwaves pushed shoppers towards interactive retail experiences over simpler setups. 

However, despite July’s uplift in consumer confidence, Britain’s high street is still in a broader downturn. We explore what sellers can learn from July’s winnings to keep revenue flowing in from and beyond.

UK’s sunny spell drives up high street footfall

High street retailers faced their fair share of problems in 2026, but according to new data from MRI Software’s Insights from the Inside report, footfall wasn’t one of them this July. The month recorded the strongest month-on-month footfall since July 2016, with retail destinations overall up 5.5% MoM, and 0.4% YoY. 

Growth on high streets led the charge, with a MoM increase of 7.3%, as scores of shoppers looked to escape the heat indoors, while shopping centers and retail parks saw smaller increases. 

According to the research, the World Cup proved to be a huge driver of growth, with match days creating footfall spillover beyond hospitality venues alone. For instance, for England’s opener UK footfall was up 4.2% overall, with retail footfall jumping 14.9% week-on-week after 8pm. 

Major summer music events added further to the momentum, according to MRI, with the BST Hyde Park festival, Harry Styles, and Luke Combs concerts all bringing visitors into towns and cities throughout July.  

But shoppers weren’t just turning up; they were also spending money. New data from NielsenIQ found that consumer confidence improved by six points during July, driven by a mixture of sporting successes and seasonal activity. However, some retailers were more successful at turning footfall into cash flow.

 Experience-led retail is winning over shoppers

While the UK’s sunniest July on record brought flocks of people to the high street, shopping habits suggest that traditional brick-and-mortar stores may not be cutting it alone anymore. 

From beach-themed installations to family-focused events, the destinations that thrived in July were the ones that led with experiences, rather than just stocked shelves. This is backed up by MRI Software’s Insights research, which found that 62% of retailers reported that summer activations helped them drive sales in recent weeks. 

The findings suggest that experience-led shopping is more likely to translate to sales than shops that draw in crowds to browse and leave. For retailers, this could involve blending retail with leisure, hospitality, and entertainment, or pairing products with seasonal activities that give shoppers an extra reason to leave the house. 

As Jenni Matthews, Retail Insights Analyst at MRI Software, explains: “The retailers and destinations that performed best weren’t necessarily those with the biggest brands or the largest footprints, but those that created moments people wanted to be part of. That’s a mindset worth taking into the Golden Quarter.”

 How small retailers can replicate July’s successes?

While it’s easy to assume July’s wins were just driven by huge brands and well-known activations, smaller retailers stand to benefit just as much. 

With another potential heatwave on the way before we move into Autumn proper, here’s how to keep up the momentum for the following months.

Ultimately, while July brought crowds to the UK’s high streets, foot traffic will wind down into the colder months. So, as we move into the Golden Quarter, it’s retailers who give shoppers a reason to stay out, that will have a better chance of turning footfall into lasting revenue. 

Britain’s small and medium-sized businesses are leaving thousands of pounds exposed, underperforming, and eroding in real-terms value.

Every business owner knows cash flow keeps the lights on. But in an economy shaped by inflation shocks, geopolitical uncertainty, and domestic policy turbulence, simply holding cash is no longer enough. How small businesses manage that money may decide whether they weather the next difficult period – or find themselves caught out by a problem they didn’t know they had.

New research commissioned by Insignis suggests a wide gap between what business leaders believe about their cash and what is actually happening. Finance leaders must step up to the challenge, or at least acknowledge the risk.

How fragile cash management creates risk for startups

Three years ago, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank rattled finance teams far beyond California. Billions of dollars disappeared in hours, and founders who had spent years building their businesses were suddenly focused on one question: could they pay staff the following week?

At the time, that panic felt exceptional. In truth, it revealed how casually many high-growth startups – SVB’s typical customer – had come to think about cash risk. Before SVB failed, cash management was rarely treated as a boardroom priority. Most businesses spread deposits across accounts for practical reasons rather than strategic ones. A familiar bank logo was taken as reassurance, and few people asked difficult questions about concentration risk or exposure.

The operating environment has shifted considerably since then. Persistent inflation, rising employer costs, and unpredictable policy changes have put sustained pressure on margins. In that environment, protecting company cash matters as much as generating it.

Too little has changed

What is striking is not simply the vulnerability exposed by SVB, but how little has changed since. Too many businesses still treat cash management as administrative background noise rather than a strategic discipline.

The scale of this was difficult to map out, but our recent research has shed light on a couple of key challenges facing today’s businesses.

After surveying a pool of 500 senior leaders at UK businesses, we found three connected issues running through how British businesses manage their cash.

The protection gap nobody is talking about

One in three UK businesses holds over £1 million with a single bank. While smaller businesses tend to hold a lot less than this, more than half of the businesses with less than 50 employees we surveyed still reported holding more than £200,000 in cash.

That matters because the FSCS deposit protection limit for eligible businesses is now just £120,000 per UK-authorised institution in December 2025. Many businesses continue to leave large sums above those protected thresholds, often without much thought about how risky this is.

Perhaps more surprising is the lack of movement since the economic turbulence of recent years. More than two in five businesses say they have not changed how they manage or distribute cash over the past 12 months. This goes up to 58% among small businesses, our research found.

What’s more, 47% of the small businesses we surveyed do not actively monitor cash across all their accounts and have no clear view of what is held where.

Especially for smaller businesses operating on tighter margins, protection risk can appear invisible until the moment it is not. A business may spend months worrying about energy bills, payroll costs or tax changes while overlooking the fact that a substantial share of its cash reserves could be vulnerable if a banking partner runs into difficulty.

Confidence without knowledge

Nearly all finance leaders – 96% – say they are confident their deposits are protected against bank failure. Yet two-thirds either have no meaningful awareness of how FSCS protection actually works or cannot correctly identify what it covers.

Of those who do claim familiarity with the scheme, fewer than four in ten can correctly identify the £120,000 limit. More than a quarter still believe it sits at £85,000.

Nearly half wrongly assume it covers e-money accounts and fintech payment providers (it does not). A third were unaware that the protection applies only to deposits held in UK-regulated banks.

The money already lost

Underperforming cash is actively eating into margins, for businesses small and large.

Our research found that the average business surveyed holds £2.21 million in cash. Based on the gap between the average rate UK businesses currently earn (1.61%, according to Bank of England data) and a conservative market rate of 3.5%, a business with those cash reserves is missing an additional £42,000 in interest every year. At a time when NI contributions have risen, operating costs remain elevated, and every hiring decision is scrutinised, £42,000 carries weight.

Even for much smaller businesses with reserves around the FSCS-protected threshold of £120,000, the figure is still more than £2,250 per year.

For them, this could make a meaningful dent in annual energy bills, cover a whole year of software subscriptions for a small team, or pay for equipment upgrades.

What can businesses do to better manage their cash?

Solving these problems doesn’t require a complex treasury strategy or specialist resource.

The businesses that manage cash well tend to do a few straightforward things: they spread deposits across multiple institutions to reduce concentration risk and, where eligible, to maximise FSCS protection. They actively check that the rates they are earning are competitive.

Most small businesses are looking hard for savings right now – and one of the most significant is sitting in their own bank account, untouched.

Kate Toumazi, CEO of Insignis

Kate Toumazi is the Chief Executive Officer of Insignis Cash, the UK-based cash management platform that helps individuals, businesses and organisations grow and protect their savings.

Insignis

This content is contributed by a guest author. Startups.co.uk / MVF does not endorse or take responsibility for any views, advice, analysis or claims made within this post.

UKHospitality is fighting back against the government’s proposed “overnight visitor levy”, which would give local mayors the power to charge tourists an extra fee per room, per night when they stay in hotels, B&Bs, or campsites.

The trade group warns it could add an extra £100 to the price of a family holiday and is urging the government to adopt a “Holiday Bonus” scheme instead, which would incentivise tourism rather than taxing it.

With hotels already exempt from Burnham’s hospitality business rates cuts, further cost pressures could push an already stretched sector to the breaking point. But what would the Holiday Bonus scheme mean in practice, and how likely is it to triumph over the levy?

Burnham pushes ahead with the tourist tax, despite criticisms

The overnight visitor levy was first proposed by Keir Starmer in 2025, as part of the government’s plans to devolve power from the central to local government. 

The levy would apply to a wide range of short-term accommodation, including hotels, B&Bs, and caravan parks, with local leaders having the power to set their own rates and exemptions. 

Local government secretary Steve Reed argues that giving mayors in England the option to introduce a tourist tax on overnight stays would help “unlock economic growth” and “make a place attractive for visitors and residents. 

Andy Burnham’s recent “Rewiring the State” paper confirms the government intends to roll it out to all the first wave of mayors in April 2027, but the levy hasn’t yet been approved through formal legislation and has been attracting a backlash from trade bodies and business owners since it was first proposed. 

UKHospitality has opposed the plans since the beginning. The trade body warns the levy could add £100 to the cost of a family holiday, costing the hospitality industry 33,000 jobs, and reducing national GDP by an estimated £2.2 billion as a result.

The trade body’s own research suggests the public shares its scepticism. A UKHospitality poll of more than 10,000 people found 56% opposed the levy, compared to just 24% in favour – a clear signal that its unpopularity extends far beyond hotel owners.

UKHospitality urges the government to replace levy with a “Holiday Bonus”

Instead of allowing local authorities to levy a new tax on holidaymakers, UKHospitality has proposed a “Holiday Bonus” scheme that could incentivize tourism and support tourism by devolving central government revenues to local authorities based on the number of visitors they attract.

In simple terms, the scheme would involve the government handing local authorities a set amount of money for every visitor recorded in their area, working in a similar way to how income tax and business rates are shared between central and local government.

UKHospitality recently set out its proposal in a letter to the Prime Minister, arguing a levy risks doing more harm than good for the hospitality sector. CEO Allen Simpson argued, “A holiday bonus is the right kind of devolution: more revenue and control for local communities, without the lost jobs caused by a holiday tax.”

The plan has received a warm response from the hospitality industry. However, whether or not it will actually drive any real change is unclear. The Prime Minister and London Mayor Sadiq Khan are actively pushing the levy forward, and it’s already in operation in major cities like Manchester and Liverpool. 

While the Holiday Bonus does have the support of the public on its side, in reality, it seems to be acting more like a negotiating chip than a realistic proposal.

How hotels and hospitality businesses can support the campaign

CEO’s of major hotel chains, including Hilton, Travelodge, Butlin’s, and Haven, have already campaigned along with UKHospitality to reject the planned tourist levy, and the trade body is encouraging more businesses to enter the conversation. 

The easiest way to make your voice heard is by writing to your local MP using the UKHospitality’s dedicated campaign site: stoptheholidaytax.uk. This site takes the administrative headaches away from reaching out, allowing businesses and members of the public to send pre-drafted messages to their MP in a couple of clicks. 

UKHospitality also encourages affected hospitality businesses to use local data to bolster their case to MPs. This can include local job numbers, visitor spend, potential pricing impact, or anything else that shows MPs exactly how the tax could play out in their own constituencies. 

Ultimately, there’s a real chance more hospitality businesses will be affected by the tourist tax in years to come. However, the campaign’s strength lies in numbers, so the more businesses that speak out now, the harder it will become for the government to dismiss reasonable alternatives. 

Going self-employed has never been an easy option, but new research by Taxfix has found almost half of UK entrepreneurs are currently considering throwing in the towel due to HMRC’s new Making Tax Digital (MTD) plan. 

In order to evade complex reporting requirements, the financial platform also revealed that 23% have already started setting up a limited company, as this business structure isn’t subject to the same rules as sole traders. 

The figures paint a stark reality for sole traders, who are already facing mounting financial pressures and red tape. But does complying with MTD have to be a headache big enough to quit your job over?

 45% of sole traders would rather quit than comply with MTD

As the government steams ahead with its Making Tax Digital plan, sole traders are voting with their feet, with Taxfix data finding that 45% would rather return to full-time employment than comply with the reporting requirements. 

MTD is part of a push HMRC is making to modernise the tax system. Having officially launched on April 6, the plan requires sole traders to keep digital records and submit regular updates through compatible software.

While it was designed to make tax reporting more efficient, many sole traders on the receiving end of the changes fear they will add an extra layer of complexity to an already time-consuming and bureaucratically heavy process.

Taxfix found that entrepreneurs are resorting to creative measures, with 57% of respondents actively considering their business structure to avoid extra complications. Almost a quarter have already taken the plunge by setting up limited companies – with this course of action proving particularly popular for younger workers. 

It’s not just workers who are meeting the government’s digitisation efforts with resistance, however. Almost three in 10 (29%) of businesses are cautious about taking on new work as a result of MTD – a sobering statistic in a climate where sole traders are already facing challenges securing consistent work. 

Despite the government’s intentions of creating a simpler, more efficient tax system, the message from the findings is clear: the mandatory Making Tax Digital push risks having the opposite effect, while potentially driving entrepreneurs away from self-employment altogether. 

But with the right guidance, are the mandatory MTD requirements really worth resigning for?

Sage: use Sage Copilot to help you get MTD-ready

You can use Sage's AI-productivity assistant to ensure you are MTD compliant

Visit Sage Start a 30-day trial

How to comply with Making Tax Digital without the headache

While the prospect of adhering to MTD may feel overwhelming, the truth is that the transition doesn’t have to become a burden for sole traders. By getting organised in advance and using the right tools, staying compliant can become as much of a staple as your morning coffee.

Crucially, MTD requires sole traders to send quarterly updates about their income and expenses annually – with submission deadlines falling on August 7, November 7, February 7, and May 7 – alongside a final end-of-year declaration to confirm their tax position. 

To make the process as seamless as possible, we recommend using HMRC-approved Making Tax Digital software to help you manage your income and expenses throughout the year. In addition to making sure you’re MTD-ready, accounting software also has the upshot of streamlining bookkeeping and tracking cash flow, eliminating some of the hassle of 

There’s also some good news. HMRC is taking a lighter-touch approach during the first year of MTD for Income Tax, with a points-based penalty system meaning a single missed quarterly update won’t automatically result in a fine.

As of the 1st of July, the EU has replaced its €150 duty-free customs exemption with a temporary €3 customs duty per item charge, creating complex ripple effects for UK-based online retailers selling to European customers. 

To understand how these shipping changes are impacting the e-commerce industry, we spoke to UK ecommerce founders and warehousing and fulfilment specialists directly, unearthing insights into the fresh challenges affecting cross-border trade. 

From the rising cost pressures on smaller sellers and administrative headaches, to growing needs for third-party logistics providers, we explore the main hurdles ecommerce businesses are facing today – and offer guidance on how to respond to the new rules.

New EU shipping rules: what you need to know

On the 1st of July, the EU removed its long-standing €150 customs duty exceptions for low-value parcels entering Europe from non-EU countries. In lieu of the exemption, the union introduced a temporary €3 customs duty charge per item for parcels worth €150 in value.

Introduced as part of a wider effort to address the growth of low-value imports, this current system is expected to remain in place until 2028, when a broader sweep of EU customs reforms will be introduced.

 Smaller, low-margin sellers will feel more of a burden

Due to the nature of the shipping law changes, it’s clear that the brunt will fall on businesses operating on tight margins, specifically if they sell low-value products. 

According to James Demtriades, the founder of ecommerce business Undeniable Jewellery, while the regulation change may look “trivial on paper”, it will squeeze sellers “running on thin margins and low perceived value” the most. 

Pedro Brianca, Professor of Economics at Nova School of Business and Economics, explains exactly what this could look like in practice. He tells us that a “€3 duty on a €25 basket of jewellery, skincare or prints works out at an effective tariff of roughly 12%” – a significant spike for businesses that already operate on tight budgets. 

Brianca highlights that these costs aren’t happening in isolation, either. They compound the wider financial pressures UK sellers have faced since Brexit, from EU import VAT to customs declarations.

Ultimately, the experts are in agreement that while larger retailers may view the policy as more of an inconvenience than a threat, many smaller sellers will have to choose between absorbing the costs themselves or passing them onto the consumer.

Sellers with diverse product ranges will face greater complexities

Cost pressures aside, the new rules also pose logistical complexities for retailers selling mixed-item orders. 

Andrew Scanlon, Head of Sales and Marketing at 3PL Paxon, explains that many smaller sellers have diversified their product ranges in recent years to attract new customers and spread risk.

Yet, with the new changes in place, sending multiple product types in a single parcel may become more expensive, as different items may fall under separate tariff classifications.

As Scanlon breaks down: “if a UK business ships a small parcel to the EU that contains three different types of product, they might end up paying multiple tariff classifications, meaning they pay €9 duty on a parcel with a total value of €150 or less.”

As a result, businesses with varied product categories may need to reconsider their product mix and order strategies, in order to make sure their offering remains commercially viable to EU customers.

 EU-based fulfilment and logistics partners could lighten the load

While the EU’s new rules undoubtedly present fresh challenges to UK ecommerce businesses, the good news is practical solutions exist to ease the transition. 

Scanlon explains that some smaller sellers are now exploring EU-based warehousing and fulfilment solutions to reduce the friction of cross-border trade. By moving stock in bulk to a central EU location, businesses can clear customs once before fulfilling customer orders locally within the bloc.

Logistics partners are likely to play a bigger role in helping smaller retailers navigate these changes too. As Scanlon notes, specialist third-party logistics providers can offer access to “transportation networks, customs expertise and warehousing” to help businesses manage the additional complexity of international shipping.

Brinca also points out that the changes could create a more level playing field for UK and EU brands competing against ultra-low-cost imports. “The ultra-cheap direct-from-China model just lost part of its price edge”, he explains, which could help UK brands compete on quality, rather than price.

 Practical advice to follow today 

• Review your pricing strategy – Consider how you can increase your perceived value without simply adding a surcharge 
• Audit your product range – Review mixed-item orders to identify where product combinations could create extra costs
• Explore alternate fulfilment options – Check whether EU-based warehousing or a third-party logistics partner could make shipping more efficient 
• Develop stronger supplier relationships – Maintain good relationships with suppliers for greater flexibility

Beauty brands are having a moment on social media, with online beauty sales growing at roughly triple the rate of the wider retail sector, and haircare and skincare emerging as some of the sector’s strongest-performing categories.

As more consumers discover and buy products on social media platforms, the beauty sector is emerging as the clear winner of the social commerce boom. From visually led product demonstrations to user-generated content and authentic customer reviews, beauty brands have mastered the art of turning scrolling into sales.

But these strategies aren’t exclusive to beauty: the market’s success offers valuable lessons for retailers across every category. So, what’s driving beauty’s ecommerce triumph, and what can other brands learn from the sector’s glow-up?

Beauty emerges head and shoulders above traditional ecommerce

The beauty sector was initially one of the most difficult retail categories to crack online, due to virtual barriers preventing consumers from testing products and comparing shades in person. However, cut to today, and the beauty industry has become one of the biggest ecommerce success stories. 

According to a report by Retail Economics, health and beauty has comfortably outpaced much of the wider retail market, recording impressive year-on-year growth of 42.3% in 2026. The story is similar in overseas markets, with NielsenIQ State of Beauty 2026 revealing that the global beauty market is growing 10% year-on-year.

This growth stands in stark contrast to many traditional ecommerce categories, which have struggled to maintain the growth that was seen during the pandemic.

The winning formula behind beauty’s ecommerce boom

The formula behind the sector’s ecommerce success is no secret. Beauty products are highly visual, allowing brands and creators to demonstrate results and showcase products authentically, in a way that’s hard to replicate with traditional advertising.

Brands have also mastered the power of community-driven content. From micro-influencer collaborations to authentic user-led content, beauty companies are turning customers into brand ambassadors, creating a constant stream of trusted recommendations that drive awareness and sales.

It’s also a case of marketing to the right audience. Younger generations have been at the forefront of the social commerce boom, with McKinsey & Company research finding that Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to discover beauty products on platforms like TikTok Shop and Instagram than older consumers. 

Combined with their growing interest in skincare, make-up and hair-care, this has created fertile ground for brands savvy enough to leverage social discovery into ecommerce growth – providing a blueprint for other sectors to follow.

How brands can replicate beauty’s “show, don’t tell” formula

While beauty’s successes may be specific to the sector, Pierre Faucher, CEO of Intrepid Philippines and regional head of social commerce, believes retail brands can learn a lot from the industry’s playbook. 

Speaking in Marketing Interactive, Faucher says the biggest lesson is the power of showing products in action. Brands that effectively demonstrate how a product works are better positioned to drive purchases. This is especially true for retail categories that rely on technical features like cleaning products, consumer electronics, and home appliances.

He also believes creator-led commerce will play an increasingly crucial role across industries, too. However, brands will need to move from one-off influencer campaigns and focus on building long-term partnerships with creators that resonate with their audience. 

Finally, focusing on building a community around your brand is the best way to convert one-off buyers into loyal customers. For example, the make-up and skincare brand Glossier turns customers into contributors, using feedback from its online community to influence the development of products like its Milky Jelly Cleanser.  

Ultimately, the success of the online beauty sector isn’t down to one tactic; it’s the result of marketing social commerce. However, the lesson it gives to other online retail categories is clear: brands that build trust and create genuine connections with customers will be the best positioned to succeed.

Quick actions you can take today:

• Show your products in action – Demonstrate how your products work using short-form videos. The more visually engaging, the better
• Partner with the right creators – Build long-term relationships with creators that genuinely care about your product 
• Turn customers into advocates – Encourage reviews, testimonials and user-generated content to provide social proof of your product
• Build a community around your brand – Use social platforms like TikTok and Instagram to create conversations around your products

As social commerce continues to disrupt traditional retail, over 300,000 UK small businesses are now selling on TikTok Shop, while the number of new sellers joining has increased 200% year-on-year, TikTok has reported.

From butchers’ shops racking up millions of likes, to beauty bloggers earning six figures in a day, it’s clear that no sector is off-limits when it comes to success. TikTok also argues these wins can extend to brick-and-mortar sales through something it dubs the “TikTok Shop halo effect”.

As the growth of social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop shows no signs of slowing down, we explore what’s fueling this rapid rise, and how sellers can position themselves to benefit.

Sellers are Flocking to TikTok Shop

To use internet parlance: sellers are running, not walking, to TikTok Shop. 

After launching on this side of the pond in September 2021, a total of 300,000 small UK businesses are selling on the platform, a decent proportion of the UK’s total four million online sellers. 

But what’s driving this rapid rise? According to TikTok, live shopping – the platform’s built-in feature that lets creators broadcast real-time videos and interact with viewers through live chats – is doing much of the heavy lifting. Sales through TikTok Live are up 55% year-on-year, with more than 6,000 live broadcasts running on the platform every day in the UK. 

As you’d expect, beauty and fashion brands continue to thrive, but it’s not just your usual suspects that are benefiting from TikTok Shop. Tradesman shops are also making a killing, like Wolverhampton-based Malik Butchers 

“Recently, we did a TikTok LIVE for three hours and sold £8,000 worth of meat which would typically take 3-4 days in my high street shop.” Manny Malik told ChannelX. 

According to TikTok, successes aren’t limited to the virtual world, either. Traction on the app is spilling over to growth elsewhere, in a pattern it’s describing as the “TikTok Shop halo effect”. 

While the initial discovery happens on TikTok Shop, TikTok argues that visibility can result in a corresponding uplift in branded search queries, wholesale partnerships, listings with larger retailers, and even an entry point into physical shops. 

It’s a compelling illustration of the power of social commerce: what starts as a 60-second video can reshape a business’s entire trajectory, as long as they know what they’re doing.

How to sell effectively on TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop has an extremely low barrier to entry. But as the growing number of sellers on the platform raises the competition, standing out requires more than just showing up. 

As a general rule of thumb, users are drawn to authentic content. Forget repurposing polished ads; opt for native, low-budget content that clearly displays your product in action. 

Some quick tips include:

• Post consistently – TikTok’s algorithm favours shops that have an active presence on the platform 
• Show, don’t tell – Avoid boring viewers. Keep videos interactive with product demos, unboxing clips, or before-and-after videos 
• Engage with your audience – Reply to and like comments to build trust, and please TikTok’s algorithm
• Use trending sounds and hashtags – Tap into what’s already circulating to boost your chance of getting on the For You Page

For TikTok Live, treat it as a digital storefront. Run sessions at consistent times so followers know when to tune in, answer questions in real time to build trust and establish a connection with your viewers, and use limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency during the stream. 

As more sellers pile onto the platform, standing out will only become harder. However, fundamentals remain the same: posting authentically, regularly, and being willing to experiment with different formats will make your content more likely to break through. 

If you’ve been on LinkedIn recently, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of posts look and sound like they’ve been written by AI, rather than real people. 

You’re not going crazy – data has found that around half of long-form posts on the platform are computer-generated, and LinkedIn has finally decided to do something about it.

LinkedIn’s “seems like AI slop” feature offers users a way to flag posts that seem completely AI-generated. The professional networking platform also quietly retired its generative AI post tool, replacing it with a simpler proofreading feature. 

As other content platforms like Substack crack down on the proliferation of AI content, LinkedIn’s recent changes will undoubtedly improve the user experience for users of the platform. However, it could also have ramifications for professionals who have been leaning heavily on AI to churn out content.

LinkedIn is waging a war against AI-slop

LinkedIn has an AI problem. Research from Pangram Labs has found that over 41% of long-form posts on the platform are machine-generated – nearly double the AI-content rate of other social media platforms. 

This is no coincidence: LinkedIn has spent the last three years encouraging users towards AI content generation. The platform rolled out content generation features as early as 2023, going further in 2024 with its “Enhance Your Post” tool, which used AI to generate a fully polished draft on the user’s behalf.  

Now, LinkedIn is making a sharp U-turn. The platform’s new “seems like AI slop” button lets users flag AI-generated-looking content from a three-dot menu. These reports feed directly into new classifiers LinkedIn is building to identify and reduce low-quality content. 

The platform is also ramping up its automation defences, blocking hundreds of thousands of automated comment attempts daily, and millions of other automation attempts in recent months, as it clamps down on its bot issue. 

In addition, LinkedIn has gone after the root of the AI problem – its “Enhance Your Post” feature has been retired, replaced by a proofreading tool that polishes writing without rewriting it wholesale.

For LinkedIn users, these changes will be a welcome shift. Scrolling through the platform’s feed should start to feel like engaging with real people again, rather than wading through endless bot content. However, the fix isn’t without its wrinkles.

The problems with LinkedIn’s new anti-AI feature

The biggest risk with crowdsourced flagging is its accuracy. AI deduction tools are far from foolproof, and with most users going off a simple “gut feeling” rather than any real evidence, flags are likely to misfire. 

Research has also shown that AI detection tools have a greater tendency to misclassify writing by non-native English speakers, with a Stanford Study finding that foreign language speakers face a false positive rate of 61% – far higher than the rate for English speakers. 

The other issue is the fallibility of human classification. While you may think you have a strong idea of what an AI LinkedIn post looks, sounds and “feels” like, someone else may have a very different take on the telltale signs. The possibility for content to be incorrectly flagged is vast. 

Others argue the bigger issue isn’t accuracy at all, but human nature. Since the button relies on people reporting what they don’t like, it could easily be used to silence posts someone simply doesn’t agree with. 

Waldemar Ingdahl, senior communications officer at the Institute for Futures Studies, raised this directly with LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer Hari Srinivasan.

Speaking to Inc Magazine, he argued the real challenge lies in maintaining trust that these signals reflect content quality rather than popularity, disagreement, or coordinated reporting – calling it a governance problem as much as a technical one.

 What happens if your post gets reported as AI slop?

If your post is flagged by a user, it won’t disappear outright, but its reach may quietly shrink. 

According to a LinkedIn spokesperson, posts flagged through the new tool will experience reduced algorithmic reach, similar to what happens if someone responds “not interested” to a post. 

On top of that, the flag privately shows up on the poster’s own analytics dashboard to let them know others feel their content came across as overly AI-generated or inauthentic. 

While using AI won’t see you getting banned on LinkedIn, it’s still worth taking steps to ensure your LinkedIn posts sound as human as possible.

Avoiding the LinkedIn AI slop button: a checklist

• Write in your own voice first – don’t use an AI tool to generate content from start to finish; save it for editing and polishing instead.
• Avoid generic openers and closers like “in today’s fast-paced world”, or “let’s dive in”. These overused terms are AI hallmarks that readers instantly clock.
• Think carefully about formatting. A post full of neat bullet-pointed lists and em dashes will instantly read as AI. Keep your structure loose instead.
  

LinkedIn’s anti-AI tools are far from perfect. By taking steps to produce more human content and flagging other AI-generated posts you see, you can help nudge the platform back towards what it’s meant to be – a place for real people, not bots.