The Government has withdrawn draft regulations after consultation with companies raised concerns about imposing additional reporting requirements.
Instead, it will pursue options to reduce the burden of red tape to ensure the UK is one of the best places in the world to do business.
Draft regulations would have added certain additional corporate and company reporting requirements to large UK-listed and private companies, including an annual resilience statement, distributable profits figure, material fraud statement and triennial audit and assurance policy statement.
This would have incurred additional costs for companies by requiring them to include additional layers of corporate information in their annual reports.
Since July, the Government has completed a call for evidence on existing non-financial reporting requirements, which has identified a strong appetite from businesses and investors for reform, including to simplify and streamline existing reporting.
The Business Secretary has now decided to withdraw these regulations, and will be setting out options to reform the wider framework shortly to reduce the burden of red tape on businesses.
Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “Since the Government first published these draft regulations in July, discussions with businesses and stakeholders have highlighted a strong appetite for existing reporting requirements to be simplified.
“The Government has decided not to implement the draft regulations at this time, while we continue at pace with our plans to reform the wider non-financial reporting framework. This will deliver a more targeted, simpler and effective framework for both business and investors, reinforcing that the UK is one of the best places in the world for firms to list and to do business.”
