The Government has promised to save businesses nearly £6 billion a year by cutting administrative costs, freeing more than 100,000 firms from reports about reports, declarations about declarations and the solemn duty to explain why a form has not become a different form.
The announcement says simpler corporate reporting rules could apply to more than 100,000 firms, while the Government works towards cutting administrative costs by 25 per cent. This is welcome news for small businesses. A micro brewery may soon be allowed to spend an afternoon brewing beer instead of documenting the emotional journey of every hop.
The plans include lighter reporting requirements for thousands of companies, the removal of Directors’ Reports for companies and digital tools for planning applications. An online map of underground pipes and cables should help builders avoid the traditional planning process of discovering that the ground contains an enormous surprise.
For the first time, an efficiency programme appears to have looked directly at paperwork and noticed that it has been breeding. Mildred Staple, Deputy Secretary for Necessary Unnecessaryness, has begun the delicate process of reducing forms without upsetting the forms that remain.
“We are not abolishing bureaucracy,” Mildred explained. “We are moving it to a quieter room where it can reflect on its conduct. Any form that survives the review will be promoted to guidance, provided it completes the application.”
The promised savings are presented as a boost to productivity, with firms expected to recover time currently spent on administrative activity. An owner might eventually answer an email without first completing a declaration that the email exists, that it was sent voluntarily and that nobody has asked for a second copy of it.
There is still a danger that the savings will require their own paperwork. Someone must measure how much paperwork has disappeared, record the measurement, verify the record and submit a short explanation of why measuring the disappearance was not itself an administrative burden. That explanation will then need a cover sheet confirming that it has been explained.
Officials have prepared a certificate for the filing cabinet that held the old forms. It confirms that the cabinet has been made redundant, subject to proof that it remains capable of storing the certificate. The cabinet has appealed, naturally, by submitting three empty drawers and a covering letter. Its case is already with the department responsible for reducing the number of departments.
Source: HM Treasury.
