‘One-in, Two-out’ rule to reduce red tape for businesses

Business minister Michael Fallon has announced that for every new business regulation that comes in and increases costs, twice that amount needs to be made up in bureaucracy savings.

The so-called ‘One-in, Two-out’ rule, effective from January 2013, should help reduce the amount of red tape businesses, franchise services or voluntary organisations will have to go through every time new regulatory measures are introduced to their marketplace.

Freshbusinessthinking.com writes that the new ruling is an improvement on the former ‘One-in, One-out’ scheme, which required that the cost of every new regulation had to be matched by a saving of an equivalent amount.

This former ruling has reduced the net costs passed onto businesses by £1 billion, since it was introduced in 2011.

“‘One-in, One-out’ has driven a profound culture change across government. Departments are starting to see legislation as a last resort, not the default option,” Mr Fallon commented, according to bdaily.co.uk.

“But every year businessmen and women still spend too much time and money complying with government regulations, when they should be developing and growing their businesses.”

The business minister added that he is “impatient for growth” and this is why his department has decided to remove the “brakes on aspiration” by choosing to “up the pace” using the new rules.