How cash-in-hand businesses can get stuck in the informal economy

By Danny Buckley, Director of Studies, Loughborough University
Natalia Vershinina, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Audencia

Around 10% of the UK economy operates off the books. That means billions of pounds worth of cash-in-hand payments that never get taxed.

But all of that cash isn’t necessarily being handled by career criminals. Much of it is being earned by the hard work of painters and decorators, hairdressers or landscape gardeners.

Many of these workers will have started off using cash payments as a springboard – a cheap, low-risk way to test whether a business idea works before committing to the formalities…

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