The
Institute of Directors says new employment laws have cost business £6bn.
It
said it calculated the cost of additional red tape introduced by the
Government, and believes the cost continues to rise as new regulations are
added.
It
said the figure is based on government information and because it omits regulations
for which figures are unavailable, the full cost is bound to be higher.
The
institute also said business has had to contend with a host of new
non-employment regulations, particularly on environmental matters.
Richard
Baron, deputy head of the policy unit at the IoD, said: "Three years ago,
we launched RegAlert with a computation of the cost of a few key regulations.
Repeating the calculation now, it is dispiriting to find that both the number
of regulations and the cost has risen. And we have only looked at employment
regulations: regulation in other areas has also risen sharply.
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"It
is small wonder that, with the regulatory and National Insurance burdens on
employers rising, more and more business people would rather not expand their
businesses and take on employees. Regulation is holding back the thriving
economy which we all need."
