More than three quarters of small company owners have to deal with increasing levels of employment law by themselves, new research reveals.
The study by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) showed 78 per cent of entrepreneurs deal unaided with employee-related paperwork while a third complained they did know where to turn for government advice on coping with legislation.
Another 32 per cent of respondents said employment rules were getting so complicated that they were not taking on new staff as a result.
Alan Tyrrell, FSB employment chairman, called on the government to halt its “one-size-fits-all approach” to employment law.
“All the evidence shows that small businesses can create more wealth and more jobs when employment laws are simple and flexible,” he said.
“Small businesses do so much for the UK economy and local communities. The fact that so many of them are deciding not to employ people demonstrates that the burden of employment law is unacceptable. For evidence of this, look no further than the rocketing numbers of employment tribunal claims in the last few years.”
Tribunal claims totalled 132,577 in 2006/07, compared to 86,181 in 2004/05 and 115,039 in 2005/06.
