Chancellor vows to free firms from form-filling before Wednesday's Budget

The chancellor has announced plans to slash "form-filling and pointless paperwork" to save UK businesses up to £800m. Ministers said the proposed changes to regulations, announced ahead of John Healey's first Budget on Wednesday, would reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for companies.

The move forms part of a broader effort in the Budget to offer households and businesses more support amid rising costs. In response, the Conservatives said Labour had only made problems worse for businesses. "Labour have finally admitted that endless red tape is hammering businesses and killing jobs across the country," said the shadow chancellor, Andrew Griffith.

Healey acknowledged that British firms are "fed up with form-filling and pointless paperwork" eating into time and money that would be more valuable invested in their businesses. He becomes the latest chancellor to pledge to slash red tape, which he said would allow businesses more "breathing space" to invest and create good jobs. The changes should make compliance guidance easier and simplify the reporting rules firms have to follow, the Treasury said. Ministers claimed this would save almost £800m in administrative and tariff costs.

The prime minister, Andy Burnham, and Healey are expected to meet some business leaders on Friday at No 10 North. Burnham said it was unfair that "pointless bureaucracy gets in the way" of hard-working people building their businesses. "If you run a business, you want to spend your time serving your customers, creating jobs and growing your firm, not filling in unnecessary forms," he said.

The government has set itself a target of cutting regulation by 25% by the end of the current Parliament. Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry, welcomed the plans but said the test would be in delivering reform.

The shadow chancellor argued that the employment act had only made "the situation worse and has created a youth jobs emergency". He said: "John Healey must get a grip in his Budget next week. He must back our Conservative plans to cut welfare and cut taxes so we can get Britain working again."