Small businesses will get a one stop shop for guidance on health and safety and employment legislation, that will help make sure they comply with the law and save them time and money under new recommendations recently announced.
An independent review undertaken by Sarah Anderson has recommended a range of innovative solutions to improve the quality of guidance the government gives to small companies. The recommendations are designed to increase compliance with the law, boost business confidence in government advice and cut costs for small businesses by as much as £800 million a year.
The key recommendations suggest the creation of a single access point for all government guidance, and a telephone service providing "insured advice" to make sure they comply with employment and health and safety law.
The moves have been welcomed by small business leaders.
Jim Lee, Managing Director of Lee & Fletcher said: "As a small business with limited resources, we welcome any initiative that can help makes our life easier and eases the pressure when it comes to meeting health and safety requirements. This comes at a good time, given the current economic uncertainty, as it's a free service!"
Sarah Anderson said: "Many small businesses do not use and have no confidence in guidance from government. Instead they choose to pay for advice, which they can get free or which might make them do more work than is necessary, to comply with the law."
"Improving the quality of, and access to, government advice and is vital if we want to see better understanding of, and compliance with, the law. The vast majority of small businesses want to comply with the law. Government should give them a cost effective and efficient way for them to do so."
Almost half of all businesses use external advice about how to follow regulation, spending at least £1.4 billion per year on such services. Some 75% of medium sized enterprises report having paid for advice on employment or health and safety regulation.
SMEs are disproportionately represented in employment tribunal applications, with businesses with 50-249 employees generating 21% of tribunal applications but only accounting for 4% of total employment, which suggests that something is certainly going wrong somewhere. It is hoped that this new system, to be unveiled soon, will address this imbalance and help protect smaller companies from falling foul of legislation.

(Courtesy The People Bulletin)

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