The IoD is calling on the coalition to reduce the excessive burden of red tape that is bogging down UK enterprises and umbrella companies.
Although the government promised to reduce the regulatory constraints of employment law, the Institute says these have actually increased since the coalition came into power. Spokesman Alistair Tebbit said that employment law has been increasing gradually over the past 10 to 15 years, an activity that was encouraged by the Labour government. The current government appears to be doing exactly the same even though they pledged the reverse in pre-election campaigning.
The IoD made its comments after David Cameron appointed Lord Young as his new enterprise adviser. Tebbit said Lord Young would need a wide scope as the red tape surrounding employment law affects all businesses, not just a particular sector.
Proposals that are currently under consideration include abolishing the default age of retirement, extending paternal leave and encouraging flexible working, but far from reducing the regulatory burden, these would cause firms additional problems, said Tebbit.
The FSB last month reported that EU regulation costs businesses £107.6 billion per year – 3.5% of the annual European Union GDP. 1.7 million businesses fail in the EU every year and more than half of them say the regulatory burden was a significant factor in their failure.
Earlier this year, Nick Clegg asked the public to visit the Your Freedom website and say which laws they would like to see changed. 46,000 ideas were submitted but Clegg has apparently given up and passed the ideas over to the Home Office which will propose a smaller civil liberties bill. Ironically, Clegg passed it over due to too much detail. Isn’t that exactly what businesses are currently complaining about?
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Image: red tape by Sarahptor
