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Red tape ‘costs UK firms £80bn’
Regulation is costing British businesses £80 billion a year – more than six times the amount estimated by the Government, the Institute of Directors (IoD) has claimed.
New figures released by the lobby group suggest that firms spend an average of 73 hours every month dealing with red tape, or the equivalent of ‘one member of staff working continuously on regulation for five-and-a-half months to complete a business's annual regulation administration’.
Miles Templeman, director-general at the IoD, said: ‘This £80bn is effectively being taken out of the UK economy each year due to regulatory paperwork. When the regulatory burden is so large that it typically occupies one employee in every private enterprise in the UK for nearly half a year, it's obvious we have a problem.’
The organisation has warned that over-regulation poses a threat to the competitiveness of British businesses and is now calling on the next Government to address the issue. It stressed that ministers need to reassess civil service practice on regulation and give enterprises more freedom to operate.
‘This is not a debate about diluting protections, because form-filling doesn't protect anyone. This is about getting a culture change in Whitehall. Officials are incentivised to produce legislation,’ Mr Templeman added.
‘Unless the next Government changes the way civil servants are evaluated and rewarded, businesses will continue to face an increasing burden of paper work that hinders them from growing and, ultimately, creating jobs.’