The Red Tape Challenge

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The Red Tape Challenge was an innovative cross-government initiative launched by the UK government in April 2011 to tackle unnecessary and overly complicated regulations.
What are the main aims and objectives?

The primary goal was to tackle the stock of unnecessary and overly complicated regulations, aiming to reduce the overall regulatory burden on businesses and individuals while supporting economic growth and increasing business competitiveness. Beyond simply reducing the number of regulations, the challenge aimed to make remaining regulations clearer, easier to understand, and more business-friendly, while streamlining and modernizing rights found in multiple pieces of legislation. The government also set specific targets for measurable outcomes, including achieving annual savings to businesses of over £850 million.

How does the program work?

At the heart of the initiative was a crowdsourcing approach using an online platform. The government published entire stocks of regulations grouped into themes, such as Retail, Environment, and Water & Marine, on the Red Tape Challenge website. This platform invited businesses, civil society, and the general public to comment on the regulations affecting their everyday lives and suggest which rules should be scrapped, improved, or kept. The website attracted over 230,000 visitors and received around 30,000 comments, along with over 1,000 email submissions.

The process involved a systematic review of approximately 6,500 substantive regulations. After the public comment period for each theme closed, government departments analyzed the responses and developed proposals to scrap, improve, or keep regulations. These proposals then underwent scrutiny from ministers, including a "Star Chamber" process where the Minister for Government Policy and the Minister for Business could challenge officials face-to-face on their recommendations.

To ensure progress and maintain momentum, the initiative benefited from high-level political engagement. The Cabinet Secretary made the work a high personal priority, meeting regularly to ensure real progress. The Prime Minister also stressed the importance of tackling regulation "with vigour" to all government ministers.

The Red Tape Challenge team, a joint cooperation between the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office, played a crucial role in keeping the implementation on track. They mobilized departments, provided an interface with the public, and acted as the main point of contact for stakeholders. This flexible core team could work across multiple themes and served as the primary liaison for departments leading each theme.

What is the overall cost?

There is no available information on the cost of implementing the Red Tape Challenge. 

How was it implemented?

The Red Tape Challenge was launched in April 2011 as part of the UK government's broader deregulation agenda. It was a joint initiative led by the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), with the aim of reducing and reforming the stock of inherited regulations.

The creation of the Red Tape Challenge was driven by high-level political engagement. Prime Minister David Cameron announced the government's intention to be the first in modern history to reduce the overall burden of regulation rather than increasing it. The initiative was given high priority by ministers, which allowed for its rapid setup in just two to three weeks. The program was led by the Minister for Government Policy and the Minister for Better Regulation, with active involvement from the Cabinet Secretary.

A key feature of the Red Tape Challenge was its innovative approach to policy-making through 'crowd-sourcing'. The government developed an online platform where entire stocks of regulations, grouped into themes, were published for public comment. This website invited businesses, civil society, and the general public to suggest which rules should be scrapped, improved, or kept. The platform was designed to be open and accessible, allowing anyone with internet access to participate in the regulatory review process.

The implementation team for the Red Tape Challenge was a joint cooperation between the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office, led by a Director General in the Cabinet. This flexible core team could work across multiple themes and served as the primary liaison for departments leading each theme. The initiative also benefited from the involvement of various government departments, each supervising the challenge themes relevant to their areas of responsibility.

What impact has been measured?

An evaluation by the UK government found that the reforms delivered £800m in annual savings to UK small businesses. The government exceeded its target of scrapping or reforming 3,000 regulations, surpassing that target in January 2014. 

Specific reforms included

  • Eliminated the need for 36 million paper vehicle tax discs.
  • Provided £300 million in annual savings to 100,000 small businesses through increased flexibility on audit requirements.
  • Exempted hundreds of live music and community events from entertainment licensing between 8am and 11pm.
  • Saved £132 million annually by setting out clearer arrangements to remediate contaminated land

Sector-specific improvements included: 

  • Employment tribunal reforms expected to deliver £40 million of savings per year to employers.
  • Planned reforms to environmental regulation expected to save business at least £1 billion over ten years.
  • 84 percent of health and safety regulations were either scrapped or improved.
What lessons can be learned?

Several criticisms have been made of the Red Tape Challenge:

  1. Limited Impact: A study by the think tank Reform found that while the government claimed to have reduced £1.2 billion worth of regulation since 2010, overall £3.1 billion had been added. This suggests the initiative may have fallen short of its deregulatory goals.
  2. Lack of Significant Reduction: According to Reform, only 100 out of 21,000 regulations were removed under the Red Tape Challenge. This indicates that the program may not have achieved its intended scale of regulatory reduction.
  3. Mixed Business Perceptions: A Croner survey found that only 7% of businesses questioned thought the deregulation efforts had an impact, while 52% said there had been no impact. This suggests that many businesses did not feel the intended benefits of the program.

CURATED BY

Tom Hancock

Research Associate
Global Entrepreneurship Network
United Kingdom