Ever felt weighed down by paperwork, forms and reporting tasks that seem to take up valuable time without adding much to your business?

If so, things could soon become a little easier.

The government has launched an overhaul of corporate reporting rules, with the aim of cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and saving businesses an estimated £450m a year.

What are the plans to cut paperwork for small businesses?

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the government wants to simplify business reporting rules and make some small and medium-sized businesses exempt from completing certain forms.

Reynolds said that “hardworking firms” have, for years, been “weighed down by pen-pushing paperwork and frustrating costs, ticking boxes that do nothing to help them grow their business”.

The government says it wants to strip back “outdated bureaucracy” and create a more “common-sense system fit for a 21st-century economy”.

According to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, the proposed changes could save businesses across the UK around £450m each year.

For business owners that could mean less time spent navigating complex reporting requirements and more time focused on running and growing their business.

What could change?

The proposals include:

• Simplifying reporting requirements, so it’s clearer which businesses need to follow which rules. The government also plans to test the merits of removing some non-financial reporting requirements for private companies.

• Reducing the regulatory burden on SMEs, while making it clearer who financial reports and accounts are intended for.

• Exempting more businesses from audits, including some medium-sized businesses.

• Making UK reporting rules clearer and more coherent, so businesses can more easily understand what is expected of them.

• Simplifying the rules around distributable profits and capital maintenance, potentially replacing the current complex system with a solvency-based regime.

• Making electronic communication with shareholders the default, helping to reduce the need for paper-based correspondence.

The process for scrapping directors’ reports is already underway, alongside plans to make more businesses exempt from providing strategic reports.

What can you do now to save time on paperwork?

While you wait to see which changes are introduced, there are some simple steps you can take to reduce the paperwork burden in your own business.

Review reports regularly

First, review the reports and forms you regularly complete and check they’re all still necessary. It can be useful to make a list of your recurring reporting obligations and check whether any are duplicated.

Go digital

You could also move as much of your record-keeping online as possible. Digital accounting, document storage and electronic communication can make it much easier to find information when you need it and reduce the amount of physical paperwork you have to manage.

Keep a calendar of deadlines

Keep a calendar of important filing and reporting deadlines. Setting reminders in advance can help you avoid last-minute paperwork and the stress that comes with it.

Businesses invited to take part in the consultation

The government is now inviting businesses and other interested parties to have their say on the proposed changes.

The consultation opened on 7 September 2026 and will close at 23:59 on 30 November 2026.

If you run a small or medium-sized business, this is an opportunity to share your experience of the current reporting system and explain which requirements you find particularly time-consuming or difficult to understand.

The proposals are still subject to consultation, so it remains to be seen exactly which changes will be introduced. However, if the government's plans go ahead, businesses could eventually face fewer forms, simpler reporting requirements and less time spent dealing with unnecessary bureaucracy.