Wind of change promises to save firms billions - Andersons Solicitors Nottingham

A wind of change is blowing through Whitewall with the government seemingly falling over itself to be the businessman’s friend. It wants to cut red tape, save billions of pounds and generally make life easier for firms throughout the country.

It’s all part of the much vaunted Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill which aims to cut costs to business by £12billion.

The Bill should bring several benefits. The volume of information requested by different agencies should be reduced by cutting the number of regulators down to seven “super” regulators.

This should put an end to getting repeated requests for the same information from different departments.

It’s not all plain sailing though. Penalties for breaching regulations could be increased.

It means that, although some of the more burdensome red tape may be unravelling, it will now be more important than ever to comply with the regulations that remain. Firms would be well advised to start checking their procedures now and implement any necessary changes.

This will be doubly important if you have fallen foul of inspectors in the past. Under the new system, the government is moving to risk-based inspection and enforcement. In practice it will mean that firms with poor compliance records are given a tougher time facing more inspections.

It will also be more important in future to keep up with changes in the regulations. As part of its plan to streamline the operation, the government is giving Whitehall departments the power to change non-controversial regulations without them being debated in parliament.

It means the changes might not be as well publicised as in the past leaving firms in danger of failing to comply with a new regulation, or continuing to comply with a requirement that has been removed. Either way, time and money could be wasted.

Whether the proposed changes end up making a real difference that employers will notice in their every day business remains to be seen.

Ironically, in the short term it means that firms will have to pay more attention than ever to compliance to make sure they are up to date and not missing out on any improvements or cost-cutting measures.