Corporate report

Government response to the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce report: executive summary

Published 23 October 2026

Ministerial foreword

Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the UK economy. They create jobs, drive innovation and bring life to our towns, high streets and communities.

That is why the government is accepting all but one of the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce’s recommendations and is taking forward a substantial package of reforms to reduce regulatory burdens on small businesses and improve their experience of regulation.

As someone who spent more than 4 decades building and running a business before entering government, I understand both the opportunities and the challenges entrepreneurs face.

My experience has taught me to view policy through the eyes of the person running a business. I know that when business owners are spending time navigating unnecessary bureaucracy, they are spending less time serving customers, investing and growing.

Too often, small businesses find themselves navigating fragmented processes, providing the same information multiple times, and spending valuable hours searching for guidance rather than focusing on customers.

These burdens can fall particularly heavily on smaller firms, which rarely have dedicated compliance or administrative teams. Government should help businesses succeed, not make it harder for them to do so.

I am grateful to the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce for its work. Drawing on evidence and engagement with businesses across the country, it has highlighted practical ways to make regulation work better for small businesses.

Its recommendations reflect a simple but important principle: government should work around businesses, not businesses around government.

Businesses should be able to provide information once, access support quickly, and have confidence that regulation is proportionate, practical and designed with their needs in mind.

This response sets out how we will take that ambition forward. Through a package of reforms to simplify interactions with government, reduce unnecessary administrative burdens and create a more joined-up regulatory system, we will help small businesses spend less time on paperwork and more time doing what they do best: innovating, creating jobs and driving growth across the United Kingdom.

Lord Leong CBE

Minister for Small Business and Enterprise

Executive summary

Aims and objectives

The Small Business Regulatory Taskforce was a joint government-industry endeavour, running from June to September 2026. It was established to identify practical reforms that will improve the regulatory environment for small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) and support the government’s commitment to reduce the administrative costs of regulation by 25%.

It focused on:

• simplifying interactions between businesses and regulators
• improving the accessibility and usability of regulatory guidance
• supporting productivity, innovation and growth across the SME economy

The taskforce also investigated where fragmented services, repeated requests for information and inconsistent requirements create avoidable costs for small businesses.

The group was co-chaired by the Minister for Small Business and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), whilst it also brought together senior representatives from business groups, SMEs, professional bodies and government:

• Lord Leong CBE (co-chair), Minister for Small Business
• Tina McKenzie MBE (co-chair), National Chair of Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
• Michelle Ovens CBE, Founder of Small Business Britain
• Polly Dhaliwal, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Enterprise Nation
• Neil Davy, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Family Business UK
• Jon Foster, Vice President at Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK
• Dr Roni Savage OBE, CEO and Founder of Jomas Associates, Business and Trade Non- Executive Director
• Joshua Toovey, Head of Policy and Research at the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self‑Employed (IPSE)
• Kate Shoesmith, Director of Policy and Insight at the British Chambers of Commerce
• Iain Wright, Chief Policy and communications officer Institute for Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW)
• Ed Woodall, CEO of Association of Convenience Stores (ACS)
• James Carroll, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
• Emma Jones CBE, Small Business Commissioner

Taskforce findings

The taskforce’s report was published on 23 October 2026. It makes 15 recommendations across 5 broad areas aimed at making regulation simpler, proportionate and easier for small businesses to navigate. The taskforce is clear that these should be achieved while maintaining core protections and regulatory outcomes.

The taskforce’s recommendations provide a route to a more joined-up regulatory system. They will help unlock digital services through which businesses can provide information once, reuse trusted credentials and complete more transactions online. There will also be clearer and more consistent processes across regulators, departments and local authorities; and better routes to guidance, advice and support.

These changes are intended to make compliance quicker and more predictable while maintaining core protections and regulatory outcomes. Together, the recommendations seek to improve the day-to-day experience of regulation for SMEs, helping businesses spend less time navigating bureaucracy and more time investing, innovating and growing.

What we are doing

The government welcomes the taskforce’s recommendations. The report makes a valuable contribution to the government’s understanding of the unique regulatory challenges faced by SMEs and highlights a range of practical opportunities to improve the business experience of regulation.

We are taking forward an ambitious package of reforms to make regulation simpler, more proportionate and easier for small businesses to navigate. This response sets out action on specific burdens identified by SMEs.

This includes:

• exploring a ‘tell government once’ service, pausing implementation of the Companies House profit and loss filing requirement while options are explored to streamline filing with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• reducing duplication in Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveys
• standardising construction procurement and the reuse of supplier information
• improving GOV.UK guidance
• creating a clearer route through Business.gov.uk for firms to report burdensome regulation and reach the right support

It also advances practical digital and process reform by:

• developing reusable business credentials and more personalised online interactions
• moving remaining business surveys online
• improving how directors receive timely guidance
• reviewing implementation of the Non-Domestic Rating Information Duty
• digitising and standardising licence applications

Early work with Bristol City Council on Temporary Event Notices indicates that redesigned digital processes can reduce burdens by up to 50%, with further expansion planned.

Taken together, these reforms will reduce repeated form-filling, inconsistent evidence requests, fragmented licensing, difficult-to-find guidance and uncertainty about where to report problems.

The government will take action, undertake further work or align proposals with existing reforms and delivery priorities, while reporting progress against the 25% administrative burden reduction target.

The goal is a regulatory system that is simpler, more digital and more proportionate, cutting unnecessary bureaucracy so SMEs can focus their time and resources on investment, innovation and business growth.

This response considers each recommendation in turn and sets out where the government will take action, undertake further work, or consider proposals alongside existing reforms and wider legislative and delivery priorities.