British entrepreneurs are clocking up more than 50 hours a week, and are not taking the UK statutory holiday minimum, a survey reveals.

The survey by the Bank of Scotland revealed that small business managers are working an average of 50 hours a week - three more than at this time last year.

Optimism is low, with a further 26% anticipating longer hours in the remainder of the year, as a result of the worsening economic climate.

The pressure of running a business means one in four small business owners will not take a full week’s holiday this year. A quarter will take less than ten days holiday a year, and 72% will take less than 20 days, the UK statutory minimum for employees... The survey by the Bank of Scotland revealed that small business managers are working an average of 50 hours a week - three more than at this time last year.

According to Ofcom’s latest report, people in the UK are spending record amounts of time using communications services, but are paying less for them.The report shows that in 2007 we spent an average of 7 hours and 9 minutes a day using communications services (such as watching television, talking on landline phones, surfing the net etc)...

The latest press release from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) calls for equal marks to be awarded for A-levels and diplomas.The FSB say they congratulate students on achieving excellent A & AS-level results, but would like to see diplomas given equal weight in the next academic year...

The costs of bundled broadband packages were lower than those of standalone packages in the second quarter of 2008, a new study from Point Topic has revealed. The trend was more pronounced in Western Europe, where there is more competition for broadband with fixed telephony and broadband with VoIP packages...

The FSB revealed that small firms are taking increasing legal action against larger firms, in order to claim late payments. Research by the Federation of Small Businesses shows that small firms are waiting up to 105 days to receive payments from larger companies.