Small businesses in the UK are spending too much time complying with red tape and government bureaucracy, according to a new report by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
The BCC has found that SMEs, which include limited company contractors, recruiters and umbrella companies, spent a total of £88.3 billion on their statutory compliance activities last year. This represents a rise of almost 15% on the previous year’s figures.
Right to work legislation, IR35, Health and Safety, PAYE, Age Discrimination and so on are hampering UK businesses, all of which should be focusing on their bottom line, not worrying whether they fall foul of the next government white paper.
Commenting on the findings of the report, a spokesperson from the Centre for Retail Research said that there are around 300 modes of inconvenient red tape that should be replaced or at the very least reviewed as a matter of urgency.
What is clear, is that the outgoing Labour government did not exactly endear themselves to the small business community. The scrapped rise in National Insurance Contributions has already been welcomed by several leading SME lobby groups, and business owners across the country now await the emergency Budget with renewed optimism for change.
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