Alpha

Peak Insolvency, Peak Pressure: How UK IP Firms Are Managing a High-Volume Environment Without Burning Out Their Teams

Affinity — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:05:05 +0000

UK insolvency practitioners are operating in one of the most demanding environments the profession has faced. Caseloads have been running at historically elevated levels for the better part of three years. The economic conditions driving those caseloads, persistent cost inflation, tight credit markets, subdued consumer demand, and geopolitical uncertainty, show no clear sign of structural [...]

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How to Build a Human-Amplified Business: The Operating Model Behind the Firms Getting the Most From AI

Affinity — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:00:08 +0000

Last year, most UK professional services firms were asking whether to adopt AI. In 2026, most have answered that question in the affirmative. The tools are live, the licences are purchased, and somewhere in the organisation, people are using AI to do things that were done manually before. But adoption and value are not the [...]

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The Human-Amplified Business: Why the Firms Winning With AI Are Not the Ones Cutting People

Affinity — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 06:00:06 +0000

There is a version of the AI story that has dominated business headlines for the past two years. It goes like this: AI is arriving, it will do the work that people currently do, and the firms that move fastest to replace headcount with automation will gain the most. Layoffs attributed to AI have become [...]

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The Burnout Tax: What Overloaded Teams Are Really Costing UK Professional Services Firms

Affinity — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:00:19 +0000

The conversation about burnout in UK workplaces is well-established. The data is cited regularly, the well-being programmes have been commissioned, and most firms of any significant size now have a mental health policy. And yet the cost of overloaded teams in UK professional services continues to rise, year after year, not just in human terms [...]

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The AML Shake-Up: What the Move from SRA to FCA Means for UK Law Firms

Affinity — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 06:00:29 +0000

AML supervision for UK law firms is undergoing the most significant structural change in a generation. In October 2025, the UK government announced that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will become the Single Professional Services Supervisor for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, replacing the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and 21 other professional body supervisors currently [...]

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Making Tax Digital Has Doubled the Workload. But Who Is Doing the Extra Work?

Affinity — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 06:00:38 +0000

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax has been discussed, debated, delayed, and anticipated for the better part of a decade. As of 6 April 2026, it is no longer a future concern for UK accounting practices managing affected clients. It is an operational reality. The conversation in the run-up to the launch was dominated by [...]

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