Employment

Changes to employment law are being introduced at an alarming rate and it can be hard for any business, let alone a small one, to keep on top of it all. Restricting companies' ability to recruit and retain staff reduces flexibility, innovation and the medium-term development of small and medium-sized businesses. Owners are struggling to recruit staff with the right skills to support their businesses and are finding themselves overburdened with the cost of various employment taxes and regulations.

Our position

We believe that reducing and simplifying employment law is key to achieving a flexible labour market for the benefit of the UK economy. Not only will it aide businesses, but employees and the public sector purse will also benefit greatly.

The Government must arm students and school-leavers will the skills required for the business world. These are often practical and 'soft' skills, such as communication and interpersonal skills, which are vital to running a small business.

The Government must also carefully scrutinise proposals being pushed forward by the European Union and other organisations to ensure new initiatives are considered from a practical point of view and do not have any undesired consequences for small firms.

Measures introduced as part of family-friendly policies must create the correct balance between the requirements of business owners and the needs of employees. Companies must be given the tools they need to manage changes to employment legislation, which are coming in thick and fast.

Latest developments

The Government is currently looking at transposing the EU Agency Workers Directive into UK law. We will be working hard over the summer to ensure we get the best deal possible for small firms.
We have been lobbying to retain the UK's opt-out of the EU Working Time Directive. The EU will have to come to an agreement during the summer of 2009.
Flexible working was extended to parents with children up to the age of 16 on 1 April 2009 and we campaigned hard to retain businesses' right to refuse flexible working requests.
The Government published its review into business regulation (The Anderson Review) in January 2009 and will launch a trial of a free, insured advice service.

Latest research

FPB small-business skills survey, June 2008 - click here to download the results in PDF format.

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