Red tape ‘cut for thousands of businesses'

More businesses are to be categorised as small, meaning thousands will be released from reporting requirements and other regulations, Liz Truss announced yesterday.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees were previously exempt from certain bureaucracy.

The prime minister has announced plans to widen regulation exemptions to businesses with fewer than 500 employees for future and reviewed regulations.

The government said the move would free an additional 40,000 businesses from "expensive and burdensome" paperwork.

It added that the change could save companies "thousands of pounds" and that the exemption would "be applied in a proportionate way to ensure workers' rights and other standards will be protected".

The change will apply from today to all new regulations under development as well as those under current and future review, including retained EU laws.

The government also confirmed plans to consult on potentially extending the threshold to businesses with 1,000 employees.

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