Most worryingly, 34% of those asked think employment law obligations are ‘not relevant’ to their business, while 20% had concerns as to whether they were meeting these obligations- even if they understood them.

Employment relations minister Lord Young said: “We know that running a small business is both challenging and rewarding – and that this combination often fuels a successful enterprise.

“The essential job of managing employment law need not be one of these challenges.”

The findings coincide with Business Link launching a new tool to help small business understand the legalities of starting up: www.businesslink.gov.uk. The tool covers all elements of employing staff, including pay and pensions, managing staff and dealing with employee issues.

Ken Winnard, founder of graphic design consultancy, Design Force, has used the My Business tool to help develop his company, Ken said:

“As we’ve grown the business, the site has helped me with areas like recruitment. When we employed a new business person a couple of years ago, I needed to create a new employment contract, and the site’s tools helped me achieve this by setting out the information I needed to include. I would otherwise have had to have used a solicitor, so it definitely saved me some money.
“You can also check your legal responsibilities towards staff as an employer and make sure you’re compliant with different regulations, with the site taking you through the recruitment process.”

If you’re running a business and you want to expand, you’ll need to consider the best options for meeting your needs – these could include outsourcing or training existing employees, or recruiting new staff.

Taking on people will always mean some form of investment, but if successful, employing staff will allow you to expand and make your business more valuable in the long-term.

Under the Charter, HMRC gives a commitment to:

• respect individuals and businesses;
• help and support them to get things right;
• treat them as honest;
• treat them even-handedly;
• be professional and act with integrity;
• tackle people who deliberately break the rules and challenge those who bend the rules;
• protect their information and respect their privacy;
• accept that someone else can represent them; and
• do all it can to keep the cost of dealing with HMRC as low as possible.

In return, the Charter states, HMRC expects individuals and businesses to be honest, respect its staff, and take care to get things right. The Charter also provides pointers to further information on rights, where help and support can be found, and HMRC’s role.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms said:

“The Government is committed to making the tax system as useable and accessible as possible, for individuals, businesses and all the other organisations who interact with HMRC. The new Charter will go a long way to helping achieve that goal.”

HMRC Permanent Secretary for Tax Dave Hartnett says:

“The Charter’s key aim is to improve the relationship between HMRC and our customers, and we obviously have a crucial role in making that possible. But we can’t do it all on our own. Both parties have a part to play, and that’s why the Charter sets out people’s rights and their responsibilities.”