Member Article

Red tape costs one month a year

Dealing with government regulation and legislation is costing small businesses a month in downtime every year. The new finding comes from BT, which claims UK small businesses waste 24 working days a year on non-core activity. Enforcing, implementing and putting in place measures to adhere to new government law accounted for the majority of the time, with finance, IT and HR departments particularly affected.

The strain of coping with red tape is now the main business concern for over half of all businesses, the report claims. Only 27% of those interviewed pointed to cashflow or finances, the traditional bugbear of owner-managers, suggesting a rising number see red tape as the major barrier to growth.

After last week’s partial turnaround on Capital Gains Tax was met with disapproval from the business community, the government could do without further displeasure from the small business community. Its Employment Simplification Bill, aimed at reducing the burden of red tape on small businesses, was also met with criticism when released to Parliament last month.

Phil McCabe, a spokesman for the Forum of Private Businesses, said: “A wide-ranging review of the burdens of employment law took place last year. “The FPB submitted some detailed data on health and safety, parental leave and sick pay concerns, none of which seems to have made it into this Bill. “Dispute resolution and the minimum wage penalties each come from other reviews, which leaves us wondering where Darling’s review actually got us.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .