Scrapping of red tape ‘significant boost’

Announced yesterday (Sunday 2 October), Prime Minister Liz Truss revealed plans to widen current exemptions to businesses with fewer than 500 employees for the future and reviewed regulations.

At present, small firms are presumed to be exempt from certain regulations however, many medium-sized operations (between 50 and 249 employees) reported they were spending more than 22 staff days on average per month, dealing with red tape with more than half of all businesses stating regulation was a burden to their business.

The Government claimed cutting the red tape meant an additional 40,000 firms will be free from bureaucracy and accompanying expensive and burdensome paperwork for all but the largest companies.

Bureaucratic burden

The widened exemptions will be applied in a proportionate way to ensure workers’ rights and other standards will be protected, while reducing the burden on firms, according to the Government.

The changed threshold came into force today (Monday 3 October) and applies to all new regulations under development alongside those under current and future review, including retained EU laws.

The Government stated it would consider plans to consult in the future on possibly extending the threshold to companies with 1,000 workers when the impact of the current extension is known.

UKHospitality boss Kate Nicholls said the trade body was delighted the Government had listened to its calls to cut the burden of red tape.

Investment and growth

She added: “The Prime Minister’s plans to exempt medium-sized (classified as those with between 50 and 500 employees), as well as small businesses from reporting requirements and future and reviewed legislation will be a significant boost for thousands of operators in our sector and others.

“By removing the burden of time consuming and expensive paperwork, businesses can concentrate their efforts on investment and growth instead.

“Of course, larger businesses are also affected by regulation and legislation and we would urge the Government to look at minimising the burden for these businesses as well, in order to really turbo charge growth.”

Nicholls outlined how expanding it further would impact the sector and the operators within it, particularly with the current challenging landscape the industry is facing.

“Applying the move retrospectively would also boost growth by reducing some of the existing strain on operators,” she said.