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Admin burdens are those activities which must be undertaken in order to comply with regulation, for example, form filling, keeping records or responding to information requests.
The Admin Burdens Measurement Exercise was a short and intensive exercise to identify and measure the adminstrative costs placed on business by central government regulation. Over 9,000 businesses and charities took part to gain understanding, to take stock and to establish departmental baselines against which targets for reducing admininistrative burdens could be set. The Standard Cost Model was the methodology used.
Administrative costs represent the total cost for a given activity. Administrative burdens represent the costs within that total over and above what a business would choose to do in the absence of the regulation.
See the Standard Cost Model page on this site and look on the SCM Network website.
The Cabinet Office took a facilitation and co-ordination role. Other departments taking part were: Charity Commission; Department for Communities and Local Government; Department for Constitutional Affairs; Department for Culture, Media and Sport; Department for Education and Skills; Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs; Department of Health; Department of Trade & Industry; Department for Transport; Department for Work and Pensions; Food Standards Agency; Forestry Commission; HM Treasury; Home Office; Office for National Statistics. A separate but parallel exercise was conducted by HM Revenue & Customs.
Targets apply to administrative burdens which is the additional cost imposed by regulation, over and above what businesses would do anyway. The Administrative Burdens Measurement Exercise identified total costs, which included the cost of activities which businesses would be likely to carry out regardless of the regulation measured being in place. These activities, and the estimates for the 'business as usual' costs they represent, could lead to distortion in the focus of reduction efforts. Baseline totals do not include these costs and targets do not apply to them.
These are estimates for the cost of activities which businesses would be likely to carry out regardless of the regulation being in place.
The process to identify these activities was pragmatic and business led. The Cabinet Office consulted departments on a methodology and a process to setup a business led panel to consider, challenge and then decide what activity business would do in the absence of regulation. An independent Panel agreed the process and methodology using data from the admin burdens measurement exercise as a basis to calculate indicative estimates for this activity for all information obligations. The Panel then considered and challenged data for the information obligations that made up 70% of the total cost for each department.
The Panel consisted of representatives from the: Better Regulation Commission, Confederation of British Industry, Forum of Private Business, Federation of Small Businesses, Institute of Directors, Small Business Council, British Property Federation, House Builders Federation, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Royal Town Planning Institute, Planning Officers' Society, Charity Finance Directors Group and the National Farmers Union.
Simplification Plans will include the findings of the admin burdens measurement exercise when they are published later this year.
Partership is an important part of simplification. Details of how to do this are can be found on the Make a suggestion page.