Southern Water is threatening to use debt collection agencies against customers involved in a payment boycott in protest against continuing raw sewage discharges. The water company, which was given the lowest one star rating for performance by the Environment Agency, has informed boycotters that it will be using bailiffs if they continue to hold back bill payments. – Guardian
Online car retailer Cazoo has announced it will abandon its business in Europe and cut 750 jobs in the latest sign of retreat by a business that had hoped to transform its sector. The company will make redundant all of its employees in France, Germany, Italy and Spain as it closes the operations, leaving it operating in only the UK as it tries to preserve cash. – Guardian
Bosses at EY have agreed to push ahead with a split of its audit and consulting arms in the biggest shake-up of a Big Four accounting giant in decades. The firm said on Thursday that it will ballot its partners on a plan to separate the 312,000-strong business into “two distinct, multidisciplinary organisations” following a strategic review. – Telegraph
Hospitality bosses are warning that one in five businesses in the sector will not survive the current crisis and that hundreds of thousands of people will be left without jobs unless government support is received. Nearly 300 chief executives have signed an open letter asking the new chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, for “a plan that cuts business costs, stimulates demand and tackles inflation”. – The Times
The government’s information watchdog has taken legal action against the Department for International Trade for “persistent failures” to uphold transparency law. The Information Commissioner’s Office has taken the rare step of issuing a formal enforcement notice to the department for failing to properly respond to transparency requests. If the department fails to meet this notice, it will be in contempt of court. – The Times
