Britain’s small businesses waste 22 % of their working week – almost one full day – filling in government forms. That’s not an exaggeration; it’s the official figure from the Federation of Small Businesses’ 2025 Red Tape Report. A café owner in Manchester spends more time on VAT returns, PAYE, health & safety logs, and food-hygiene certificates than she does serving customers. A builder in Birmingham has to log into eight different portals just to stay legal.
Every department invents its own system. HMRC has Making Tax Digital. The Environment Agency has its own waste-tracking portal. Local councils demand separate licensing forms. The Health & Safety Executive wants its own accident book. The result? Duplicated data, endless passwords, and a mountain of stress that drives good people out of business.
The solution is embarrassingly simple: one single, secure, government-run digital portal for every licence, return, and report an SME needs. One login. One dashboard. One place to renew everything. When your VAT number changes, every other department is told automatically. When you update your fire-risk assessment, it’s done once and shared everywhere.
Other countries already do this. Denmark’s Virk portal saves businesses an average of 60 hours a year. Estonia’s e-Business Register takes minutes, not days. Britain invented the internet – we should not be trailing behind.
The government promised a “one-stop shop” in the 2023 Procurement Act and again in the 2025 Small Business Plan. So far, nothing. Meanwhile, compliance costs rose another 8 % last year alone.
Red tape isn’t just annoying; it’s a hidden tax on growth. Every hour spent on forms is an hour not spent winning customers, training staff, or developing new products.
It’s time to stop talking and start delivering. One portal. One login. One Britain that works for small businesses.
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