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Reducing the Cost for Business

Businesses spend at least £1.4 billion each year on advice about how to comply with regulations. The Better Regulation Executive report ‘Regulation and Business Advice’ looks at what can be done to reduce this cost.

The report was published as part of the Government's ‘Next Steps on Regulatory Reform’ document. It identified five key reasons why businesses end up paying business advisors for additional advice:

• the volume and complexity of regulation
• the number of changes and new legislation
• the poor quality of government guidance
• low awareness of this guidance
• uncertainty, risk and lack of confidence.

What does the report recommend?

The report recommends that better communication and guidance when new regulations are introduced can significantly reduce costs later on. The report found that closer collaboration between the Government and advisors can help achieve this.

Business advisors can then focus on adding value by helping businesses be more efficient in high-risk or complex areas of regulation.

Here is the full list of recommendations, listed under the four main objectives highlighted in the report:

Improving the regulatory process:

• Plan guidance at an early stage of the policy process
• Issue guidance earlier

Improving communication on regulation:

• Increase the market penetration of businesslink.gov.uk
• Communicate directly with businesses using high-quality, simple guidance
• Communicate with businesses through intermediaries

Improving the quality of government advice on regulation:

• Improve feedback mechanisms on guidance
• Consider joint-badging or outsourcing the design of guidance

Improving the environment for business advice on regulation:

• Help businesses become informed consumers of advice services by increasing understanding of regulatory requirements
• Take advantage of online forums for businesses to share information on regulations
• Provide dedicated guidance for advisors where appropriate

Find out more

For more information about the report, please contact Richard Ward at the BRE.

Phone: 020 7215 0401
Email: richard.ward@bis.gsi.gov.uk