Call to ease regulations to get firms back on track

AFREEZE on new business regulations could create more jobs, says the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Beds and Herts.

The FSB says the Government must put a stop to all new business regulation and simplify red tape if it is to tackle rising unemployment during the recession.

A survey by the FSB in Beds and Herts showed that nearly one in three businesses that wanted to expand said they were too scared to do so, because they were put off by complicated regulation.

Of those businesses planning to down-size or close, 50 per cent said their decision was strongly influenced by the regulatory burdens they faced.

In a new policy paper entitled Regulatory Reform: A Route To Economic Recovery, the FSB is proposing an overhaul of the UK's regulatory structures, calling for:

l A moratorium on business regulation, to boost the chances of job creation the Government must halt all new regulation during the recession and for the first 18 months after recovery.

l Accelerated simplification of current laws where many employers are currently confused and put off by maternity and paternity law, discrimination law, and health and safety legislation. All of these must be immediately simplified.

FSB Beds and Herts regional organiser Damian Cummins said: "We must not underestimate the burden that unnecessary regulation puts on small businesses.

"Around half of all firms planning to close or down-size were influenced in that decision by the heavy impact of regulation. However, we know that small firms want to employ more staff, and the Government should be making it easier for them to do so, especially as we pull ourselves out of recession and into recovery.

"The FSB is urging the Government to give the UK's regulatory environment a strategic overhaul, to provide it with what will amount to a second economic stimulus, to boost growth and employment.