Business Secretary Sajid Javid has announced the next step in the government’s plan to slash red tape for businesses, vowing to investigate employment rules that could be stifling British entrepreneurship.
The Curse of the Non-Compete Clause
One of the main areas of concern is the non-compete clause. This clause is sometimes included in employment contracts and prevents employees from working for a competitor or starting up their
own competing business for a set period after leaving employment. There are fears that this may be hindering start-ups and preventing companies form hiring great talent.
Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, said: “The UK continues to record over half a million start-ups being formed each year, with many people starting a business by holding onto the day job and building the business at nights and weekends. Entrepreneurial individuals need to be able to ease out of employment and into self-employment so a move to look into how employment contracts reflect this and the modern economy is warmly welcomed.”
The government will be seeking the opinion of individuals and companies on the real-life impact of these clauses, and on other aspects of entrepreneurship too – because they want you to help formulate their Innovation Plan.
The Innovation Plan: Have Your Say
As part of its ongoing mission to make Britain a great place to innovate, the government will publish an Innovation Plan later this year, explaining how they intend to make the UK “a better place to turn ideas into new products and technologies.”
Mr Javid says the government is seeking the views of individuals and companies in seven key areas:
- Making regulation work for business – to ensure it “doesn’t stifle businesses and instead drives innovation.”
- Access to data – “discussing how we can continue to be a world leader in open government and transparency.”
- Access to finance – “what difficulties businesses encounter in seeking finance for innovation and how the government can help unlock these.”
- Using government procurement to kick start development of new tech – to ensure government procurement practices reflect the “huge potential to invest in businesses offering new and innovative services.”
- Supporting new and dynamic businesses – to discuss how they can “make sure that more challenger businesses can emerge without being stifled by red tape and regulation.”
- Maximising opportunities to deliver infrastructure that unlocks wider economic opportunities – and how the government can build on its network of Catapult Centres to help the development and marketing of new technologies “that would not be able to be funded through business alone.”
- Intellectual Property (IP) – to discuss “measures that would help ensure the benefits of British research, invention and creativity are felt strongly within our economy and fuel the development of future innovation.”
Mr Javid said: “Home to some of the most innovative companies in Europe, Britain is already ahead of the curve in many ways when it comes to driving forward new ideas. But I am clear that I want to see more enterprising start-ups and greater productivity in a free and fair marketplace, by making sure we take action to break down any barriers that are curbing innovation and entrepreneurship.”
The government’s survey is already available online, so if you would like to help to form the Innovation Plan, you can have your say here.