Hospitality sector welcomes government plan to cut red tape – Image from iStock
The hospitality sector has welcomed the government’s announcement that thousands of UK businesses will be released from reporting requirements and other regulations in the future.
More businesses are to be categorised as small businesses, meaning less red tape, said the government. The move will potentially exempt tens of thousands of the UK’s growing businesses from relevant future regulations, possibly saving them thousands of pounds.
Currently, small businesses are presumed to be exempt from certain regulations. However, many medium-sized businesses – those with between 50 and 249 employees – still report that they are spending over 22 staff days per month on average dealing with regulation, and over half of all businesses consider regulation to be a burden to their operation.
In response to the announcement, Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality CEO, said "the government has listened to our calls to cut the burden of red tape on businesses".
She added that the prime minister’s plans to "exempt medium-sized (classified as those with between 50 and 500 employees), as well as small businesses from reporting requirements and future and reviewed legislation will be a significant boost for thousands of operators in our sector and others".
Nicholls added: “By removing the burden of time-consuming and expensive paperwork, businesses can concentrate their efforts on investment and growth instead. Of course, larger businesses are also affected by regulation and legislation and we would urge the government to look at minimising the burden for these businesses as well, in order to really turbo-charge growth. Applying the move retrospectively would also boost growth by reducing some of the existing strain on operators.”
