Small manufacturers 'have £1.2bn red tape bill'
Jul 01 2009
Small firms in the manufacturing sector face an annual bill of more than £1 billion just to comply with legislation, says the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
Figures from the group claim that small and medium-sized manufacturers spend the equivalent of £1,230 million in the number of hours they take to meet regulatory requirements.
Companies with nine or less employees spend an average of 27 hours a month tackling paperwork, while those with between ten and 50 workers need around 50 hours.
Phil Orford, FPB chief executive, says: 'Many of Britain's manufacturers are finding the current trading conditions incredibly tough and can ill afford to spend precious time and money on dealing with excessive legislation.'
The organisation also reveals that health and safety laws cost small manufacturers the equivalent of £357 million a year, while employment legislation accounts for £320 million and red tape dealing with waste and the environment takes £112 million.
An earlier report from Eurochambres, the representative body for Europe's chambers of commerce, claimed that over the past 11 years 1 trillion (£0.84 trillion) has been spent by firms across the continent complying with regulation.
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