The Forum of Private Business is calling for radical measures to be put in place by next week's Budget to help small businesses spearhead economic recovery.
In its budget submission, entitled 'Rebuilding the UK Economy', the Forum said a complete rethink of workplace legislation is needed, as well as several key tax incentives put in place to encourage small businesses to employ more people and grow.

The submission contains four key proposals. Firstly, it wants the Government to implement a comprehensive regulatory review to look at workplace legislation from the point of view of the businesses which have to comply with it, with problematic regulation being removed or simplified wherever possible.

Secondly, it wants to see plans to increase the smaller companies' rate of corporation tax scrapped, to provide a higher level of certainty for small firms and help recession-hit businesses maintain their profitability.

Thirdly, it also wants the planned increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to be scrapped and has gone even further by calling for NIC reductions for micro businesses which take on new staff.

Finally, the Forum has called for confusion around HM Revenue and Customs' Business Payment Support Service to be cleared up. Uncertainty as to the terms of the programme and its interaction with the existing Time to Pay scheme has caused problems for some business owners.

The Forum's Policy Representative Matthew Goodman said: "This Budget is about getting the environment right for businesses to take advantage of the opportunities that 2010 will bring. It's often been said, but small businesses are the backbone of the British economy. By focusing on real change in a few key areas, the Government could help itself because small firms would then pull the country out of the economic doldrums."

He continued: "The Forum believes that a comprehensive regulatory review is necessary in order to take stock of the myriad new laws which have been imposed on businesses in recent years. The policymakers are usually well meaning, but often fail to take into account the cumulative impact regulations have on small businesses.

The Forum's submission also called for the public procurement process to be made fairer for small firms, and for more work to be aimed at tackling late payment and unfair competition. It also wants the Government to improve the market in alternative sources of funding for small businesses struggling to access finance.

Mr Goodman said: "The Government does have a huge deficit to pay off, but it won't accomplish that through imposing ever-higher taxes on an ever-dwindling number of businesses. Give businesses some certainty on compliance and let them keep more of their taxes for the next year, and watch how the money starts to move again. We all know that more businesses doing more trade and employing more people will lead to more income for the Treasury in the long run. That's the only way we can ultimately get the country back into the black."