Employment regulations introduced in the UK over the past five years have
cost business £6bn, according to research by the Institute of Directors.
The organisation claims the actual figure could be higher because the
research does not take into account the impact of some recent new regulations.
Richard Baron, deputy head of the policy unit at the IoD, predicts that the
cost to business of managing the administrative burden will continue to
increase as new regulations are added. He said business also has to contend
with a host of new non-employment regulations, particularly on environmental
matters.
"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 both the number of regulations and the cost has risen," said Baron.
