|
Small businesses urged to
get free advice
Sector: Tracker
Date Created: Wed 23rd Jan 2008, 13:48:38
Source: Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform
Link: www.berr.gov.uk
UK - Many small businesses may
be paying for employment law advice which they could be getting for
free, new Government research has revealed.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform (BERR) survey found 40 percent of businesses
questioned as part of planning for its new employment law guidance
campaign, said they were likely to seek outside advice for employment
issues in the next year.
BERR is set to contact around 400,000 small businesses
as part of a campaign to make sure they know how to access free help
from the Business Link website, www.businesslink.gov.uk
Employment Relations Minister Pat McFadden said:
"For small businesses in particular,
every penny counts and they shouldn't have to put their hands in their pockets
unnecessarily.
"By using Business Link as their first port of call, businesses
could save on the costs of advice.
"Employers will get a clearer picture of their legal obligations towards
employees and save themselves time and money too."
The Employing People section of www.businesslink.gov.uk is designed to give businesses simple, practical
advice and guidance on the full range of employment issues, from
taking on staff through to dismissals and redundancies.
The site includes calculators and interactive guides to help businesses
understand their legal obligations.
Producing written statements of employment is a significant time
burden for employers, with many using external advisers to complete
them. If half of employers switched to using the tool we have provided,
the saving to business could be as much as £160m.
If a third of affected businesses used the new redundancy
statements tool, the saving to business could be
as much as £5m.
Major stakeholder organisations and businesses have
specifically highlighted to Government the need for better information.
The survey also revealed that 84% of businesses
who had used Business Link's advice on employment
issues from its' website rated its advice as excellent, very good
or good.
Interactive features of the site include:
- An employing people checklist
- Downloadable written
statements of employment.
- A new redundancy tool, which enables
employers to produce redundancy statements.
- An interactive tool
to calculate how much holiday staff are entitled to.
- An interactive
tool to help with managing new and expectant mothers in the workplace
- The facility to sign up for email alerts about new and changing
regulations.
|
