Is employment law stifling the UK economic recovery?

Over the last few years there is no doubt that the ever-growing number of new employment laws in the UK has impacted enormously on the cost base of many businesses. This has prompted a review of UK employment law by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) with a suggestion that ever more complicated employment laws are putting at risk the competitive nature of the UK economy and the creation of jobs in the future.

There is a growing resentment within the business committee that each and every employment law introduced by the UK government is tipping the balance more and more in favour of the employee as oppose to the employer. Whether this is indicative of the unions influence within the Labour Party is open to debate but in reality this is an issue which has been ongoing for many years.

We have seen various changes on maternity leave, part-time staff pensions, holiday entitlements and other issues which are now starting to impact upon company profitability. Whether this has just been a rebalancing of favouritism possibly shown towards employers rather than employees in the past is another potential point of debate. However, at this moment in time, when UK businesses need to maintain their balance sheets and retain liquidity, there is no doubt that the cost of running a business in the UK has increased.