With the launch of the Working Family Tax Credit, managers are having to spend yet more time producing or clarifying figures for the Inland Revenue. Any discrepancy, for instance, between the employee’s statement of hours worked and the company’s records means, in the words of one employer, "another headache I don’t need".

And from next April there will be an even greater burden, when businesses will have to administer a whole host of benefits and deductions through the payroll on the State’s behalf.

The Times’ "In Business" feature is monitoring the growing workload of red tape, particularly on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Any company "drowning in the sea of new and old legislation" is invited to contact the In Business editor, Henrietta Lake, In Business, The Times, 1 Pennington Square, London E1 9XN.