THE IMPACT OF THE SMALL BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT & ENTERPRISE ACT

The Small Business, Employment & Enterprise Act received Royal Assent on 26 March andThe Bill is now an Act of Parliament (law). It is soon to roll out across the country, bringing major changes to areas of business including support to the increasing number of home businesses.

Championed by the Business Secretary Vince Cable and Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a full report can be found the Government’s website and include:

Streamlined Company Registration

By May 2017, the government are committed to create a streamlined process for businesses to incorporate and complete their tax registration for Corporation Tax, PAYE and VAT – helping to make the UK an easier place to set up a company, reducing unnecessary burdens on business

Review of business appeals procedures

The aim is to ensure that the complaints and appeals procedures in non-economic regulators are user-friendly for businesses and to give businesses a clear and easy pathway to challenge decisions from non-economic regulators when they believe they have reason to do so

Independent Complaints Commissioner: Reporting Duty

To improve the scrutiny of complaints handling procedures within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Bank of England (“the regulators”) in a cost effective way. The measure will require the financial services Independent Complaints Commissioner (ICC) to produce an annual report on its investigations, describing any general trends emerging from the ICC’s investigations into complaints against the regulators.

The new reporting requirement will improve the transparency of complaints handling within the regulators and the quality of scrutiny of that complaints handling.

Business impact target

The aim is to ensure transparent reporting of the burdens on business arising from new regulations and provide assurance to businesses that future governments will continue to focus on deregulation and reducing regulatory burdens. A final report will outline performance against the agreed target.

Secondary legislation: duty to review
Duty to review will ensure that all new regulations affecting business are reviewed regularly and that regulations are effective and necessary and that businesses are not subject to unnecessary burdens

Definition of small and micro business

Establishing a statutory definition of small and micro-businesses will enable greater use of legislative exemptions for smaller businesses.  

Supporting Home Businesses – Amendment to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

There are 2.9 million home businesses in the UK, an increase of 500,000 home businesses since 2010, and of growing importance to the economy.  However, residential tenancy agreements often prohibit business use in a home to avoid creating a business tenancy with a right to renew at the end of the tenancy. The proposed amendment to Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 means that a landlord agreeing to reasonable business use of a home will not result in the creation of a business tenancy, removing a current barrier to home business and help support the continued growth of this sector.

In-depth reports are available on the Government’s website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/small-business-enterprise-and-employment-bill-impact-assessments