The Government is to offer new firms in Britain's less affluent areas 900 million in tax breaks in order to hire new staff.

The break would mean a National Insurance Contribution holiday for the first 10 employees a start-up business takes on, provided they operate outside London, the East and the South East.

Graham Morgan, a partner at Kingston Smith, told HR magazine: This has been widely touted around. I think this will make a big difference to some businesses. The 12.5% NIC they will save for each employee could make the difference between them recruiting seven members of staff or 10.

And Tor MacLeod: Cost is the biggest barrier to recruitment and any initiative the Government comes up with to help can save employers quite a bit of money.