Rachel Reeves to lay out plans to scrap paperwork for thousands of UK firms

The Chancellor will reveal plans to scrap paperwork and cut red tape for thousands of UK businesses, as part of changes she claims will save firms almost £6 billion a year.

Rachel Reeves is set to launch a fresh “crackdown on needless form-filling” at the Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham on Tuesday, according to the Treasury.

In her speech, the Chancellor will confirm plans to create simpler corporate reporting rules for more than 100,000 UK businesses to administration time and costs.

This will include removing the need for small business owners to submit lengthy director reports to Companies House.

She will also set out plans for digital checks to speed up planning processes, which could see developers sending photo evidence to authorities online, for these then to be approved by trained artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Ms Reeves will tell the summit: “Our mission is clear: to create the right environment for investment through our regulatory reforms, to crowd in capital through our public financial institutions, to break down silos to collaboration on local projects, and to support innovation and growth throughout the UK.”

The Government pledged earlier this year to reduce the administrative cost of regulation by 25% by the end of Parliament.

Ms Reeves will say on Tuesday that this target will save UK firms almost £6 billion per year.

The latest plans, together with cuts to red tape announced since March, are expected to contribute £1.5 billion to the savings target.

It comes on top of previous commitments to tear up regulation holding back certain industries.

The Chancellor’s “Leeds reforms”, unveiled in July, promised the biggest package of changes to regulation on the financial sector in a decade.

It included reforming the bank ring-fencing regime and reducing burdensome regulation in the City in order to reintroduce “informed risk-taking” into the financial system.

The Government has also been pushing forward reforms to the planning system to help “get back to building in Britain”.

Meanwhile, Ms Reeves will also tell business leaders and investors at the summit that the Government will be investing millions more in regional growth projects.

This includes £6.5 billion of investment from Welltower, creating thousands of new beds in elderly facilities.

Furthermore, the Crown Estate has acquired land in Harwell East, next to a UK leading science hub, with the potential to build new lab and manufacturing space and up to 400 homes.

The National Wealth Fund will also provide £104 million to finance onshore and offshore wind projects in Norfolk and Orkney, as well as to build a heat network in Hull.

Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said the plans will be welcomed by businesses, many of whom are “currently planning to raise prices” amid cost pressures.

“The burden of unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy ramps up their costs and damages competitiveness,” she said.

“Now is the time to boost growth, and changes like this can help.  Firms will need to be consulted to ensure any initiatives have maximum impact.”

David Postings, chief executive of industry group UK Finance, said: “We fully support the Government’s target of cutting regulatory compliance costs by a quarter, and are encouraged by the work financial services regulators are already undertaking to deliver this ambition.”

The Liberal Democrats called for the Government to pursue an EU-UK customs union, scrap the hike to employer national insurance contributions and make changes to business rates.

Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “If the Chancellor was serious about cutting red tape she would tackle the mind-blowing two billion extra pieces of business paperwork created by Brexit by pursuing an ambitious tailor-made UK-EU customs union.

“On its own, simply cutting unnecessary paperwork rules will do precious little to buck the trend of shops shutting and jobs taking a hit.”