‘I can’t see it getting any better’: could the UK be heading for a recession?

Small business owners are already being hit as consumers cut back on non-essentials

These are worrying times for Claire Tasker's jewellery business. With soaring living costs putting acute pressure on households across the country, the Hertfordshire-based goldsmith has seen first-hand how consumers are cutting back.

If people haven't got money to spend then it's items like mine they're not really going to think about buying any more," says the small business owner, who sells her handmade fine jewellery from her home studio in Hitchin.