Businesses 'won't engage' in complex schemes

Date: 25th January 2010

Government schemes designed to provide skills to UK employees run the risk of being ignored by businesses due to the complex nature of implementing them, it has been claimed.

Highlighting the government's Time to Gain initiative as an example, Work Wise UK said some firms may be "put off" by the "red tape and confusion" surrounding it.

Phil Flaxton, the organisation's chief executive, said: "I think this is indicative of a lot of these schemes which are being launched over the last five years where the detail of it can be very time consuming and therefore if it is not straight forward a lot of businesses just won't engage.

"Keep it simple, keep it to a minimum of red tape and keep the messages very clear [and] easy to understand, because that way businesses will respond," he added.

Mr Flaxton's comments follow the publication of a House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts report which highlighted a number of inefficiencies within the scheme.

The report revealed that targets for the scheme were too high and "poor" management has made it difficult to respond to problems.