Small firms reportedly suffering increased compliance costs

15 July 2014

The Forum for Private Business (FPB) have published research indicating that small and medium-sized employers have seen an above inflationary rise of £713 in their annual compliance bill in 2014, primarily because of new payroll obligations. Yet Government ministers remain confident that they are delivering regulatory cost reductions.

According to the FPB, the research shows that despite continued government promises to reduce the amount of time and money spent on keeping up to speed on regulation changes, the average micro, small and medium-sized employer in 2014 has seen an above inflationary rise of £713 in their annual compliance bill. The introduction of real time information and auto enrolment are quoted as major factors in the reported increase.

At the same time the Government reports that they remain on track to deliver an overall reduction in the cost to business of new regulation over the course of this Parliament.

This is apparently attributable to their “One-in, Two-out” rule and the “Red Tape Challenge”, which have now implemented over 1,000 deregulatory reforms.