THE Coalition Government will come under increased pressure to reform a flagship measure intended to boost job creation in Scotland that The Herald can reveal has had minimal impact.

The Federation of Small Businesses will make the call for reform of the National Insurance Holiday scheme for start-ups that George Osborne launched in 2010, a key element of its submission ahead of the Chancellor's forthcoming autumn statement.

The organisation will renew demands for the scheme to be widened to provide NIC holidays for all small firms that create jobs amid mounting evidence the results of the programme are falling way short of expectations.

Figures obtained by The Herald from the Treasury show just 2871 businesses in Scotland had benefited from the scheme on 30 September, following two years of operations. Only 19,705 firms across the UK have benefited from a programme that the Chancellor claimed would help 400,000 firms in the UK over three years.

With only one year to run, the programme is on course to help 30,000 firms across the UK, less than 10% of the number expected, and around 4300 in Scotland.

Colin Borland, head of external affairs for the FSB in Scotland, said: "When we press the Chancellor on what should be in the autumn statement this is going to be near the top of the list as figures issued show the scheme has clearly failed to deliver what was anticipated."

Scottish Chambers of Commerce echoed the call for reform of a scheme that a spokesman said had clearly not done much to encourage employers to create badly needed jobs.

The latest revelations raise fresh questions about the value of a policy initiative that was a centrepiece of George Osborne's emergency Budget of June 2010. The NIC holiday scheme was expected to have a significant impact in Scotland.

In his speech the Chancellor included the scheme in a range of measures intended to help rebalance the economy by providing support for "those regions more dependent on the public sector".

"The Treasury estimates some 400,000 businesses will benefit, ensuring all parts of our country contribute to a more balanced and sustainable economic future," said Mr Osborne.

The scheme exempts anyone who starts up a new business outside London, the south-east and the eastern region, from up to £5000 of NIC payments for each of their first 10 employees.

Given the historic importance of the public sector to Scotland's economy, the country would have been expected to enjoy a greater share of the relief than it would on a population basis.

With around 8% of the UK population, Scotland could expect 32,000 to benefit on a per capita basis over the scheme's three years.

However, the take-up rate has remained low in Scotland since the scheme came into effect.

In August last year The Herald revealed only 800 firms in Scotland benefited in the first 11 months of the scheme.

Both the FSB and Scottish Chambers want the Government to take a bolder approach to helping firms create jobs by relieving the NIC burden for a much wider range of businesses.

Mr Borland said research for FSB indicated extending the holiday to all micro-firms, with fewer than 10 employees, would create 45,000 jobs across the UK.

The organisation believes the tax revenues and boost to spending generated by the new jobs would make the scheme self-funding.

Garry Clark, head of policy and public affairs at Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: "Looking at Employers' National Insurance it's pretty nakedly a tax on job creation. The scheme the Government came up with has clearly not done very much to change that."

Mr Clark said an across-the-board cut in Employers' NIC would be a much more effective way of encouraging firms to create jobs.

The Chancellor will lay out his plans for the economy when he delivers the autumn statement on December 5.