A new joint report from the Small Business Institute and Family Business UK sets out practical steps to reduce duplication, improve consistency and help small businesses navigate regulation.
Duplicated paperwork, inconsistent advice and unnecessary barriers to growth can make complying with regulation a significant challenge for small businesses. For owners managing the day-to-day demands of running a firm, these pressures take time and resources away from investing, employing and growing.
Our new report, produced jointly with the Small Business Institute, brings together insights from more than 870 businesses across the UK to explore their experiences of regulation and enforcement, and identify practical solutions.
FBUK members contributed directly to the research, sharing their experiences of navigating regulation and enforcement. Their input helped shape the report’s findings and recommendations, ensuring these reflected the practical challenges facing family businesses.
Business owners want a system that upholds standards while making it easier to understand and meet their obligations.
Turning business experience into policy action
The findings and recommendations helped inform the Government’s Small Business Regulatory Taskforce. The Government has now accepted 14 of the Taskforce’s 15 recommendations.
This marks an important step towards reducing the regulatory and administrative burdens facing smaller businesses. Through our contribution to this work, FBUK has helped ensure that the experiences of family businesses inform the changes needed.
The next priority is translating these commitments into meaningful improvements for businesses: less time spent providing the same information, clearer advice and greater confidence that rules will be applied consistently.
Four priorities for a better system
The report identifies four key priorities for change:
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A joined-up system: reducing duplicated paperwork and unnecessary administration, so businesses spend less time navigating overlapping requirements.
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Proportionate regulation: designing requirements around the realities of smaller businesses and the resources available to them.
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Greater consistency: improving alignment between regulators, local authorities and inspectors, so businesses receive clear advice and predictable enforcement.
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More support to comply: helping businesses understand and meet their responsibilities, with an emphasis on guidance and resolving problems.
Giving family businesses more time to grow
For family businesses, the time and money spent navigating unnecessary complexity are resources that could otherwise support investment, skills and local employment.
With small businesses making up more than 99% of the UK business population, getting regulation right matters to communities and economies across the country.
FBUK will continue to champion a proportionate, consistent and supportive approach to regulation, working with government and partners to ensure that reform delivers practical benefits for family businesses.
Read the joint report from the Small Business Institute and Family Business UK