A headline-grabbing report from the Forum of Private Business and Graydon reveals that formal credit control processes are in place at fewer than half of the UK's small businesses.

The survey looked at 500 companies across the UK, and just 44% said they had formal credit control procedures to fall back on if they are not paid promptly by debtors.  However, many others admitted to making use of a spur-of-the-moment approach to payments, with 16% juggling payments as they go along and 38% mixing formal credit control processes with informal payment-chasing.

Read more: UK SME Late Payment Culture Exposed

Losing money to a scam investment scheme is bad enough. But then being targeted a second time by bogus officials asking victims to hand over personal details with false promises of getting their money back… it’s enough to make you wonder if there’s any justice in the world.

Reports of just such a so-called recovery room scam targeting investors who were duped into backing a rogue wine company have prompted the Insolvency Service to issue a warning. 

What makes it even worse is that many of the people being hounded again are known to be elderly and vulnerable.

Read more: Victims of Wine Investment Stitch-Up Face Double Threat

New figures from the Insolvency Service show a shocking decline in enforcement actions against unscrupulous businesses since the government’s austerity programme was introduced in 2010.

According to the Service’s regular Enforcement Outcomes updates, the number of interventions to wind up companies in the public interest is set to decline again this year, the fourth consecutive annual fall. Over the longer term, in 2009/10 there were 267 successful petitions to close companies down, compared to just 73 in 2017/18 - a decrease of 73%. In the current year, with just a month to go, there have been just 57 completed actions.

Read more: Austerity Hammers Efforts to Protect Public from Rogue Businesses

Backers of a project to reboot the classic ZX Spectrum as a handheld games console have been left half a million pounds out of pocket after the developer went to the wall.

As we have previously reported, the project to bring back the cult 80s device launched by Retro Computers Ltd has been dogged with problems in what has become a long-running saga.

The company initially set up a crowdfunding campaign through IndieGoGo to bring the concept to life. It raised £513,000 from more than 4,500 backers, with Retro promising each enthusiast a finished console when production was completed.

Read more: Spectrum VEGA+ Backers Face Fight for Cash As Developer Goes Under