One of Labour's last acts in power was to introduce the scheme, which allowed employees the right to demand time off to take part in relevant training.

The move was criticised by several small printers, who said that there was a difference between companies employing five staff and 250 staff.

The Coalition government appears to have listened to complaints, as it has announced that staff from companies with fewer than 49 employees will lose the right to ask for time off for training.

Companies with 250 or more employees were already on the scheme, and from April next year all employees at UK businesses would have had the right to ask for time to train.

According to business minister Mark Prisk, the move will save the country around £270m a year.

Elsewhere, SMEs are only expected to foot half the bill towards the cost of level two courses, the equivalent to GCSE, for employees over the age of 24, with the government picking up the rest of the bill.

From 2013/14 funding for the courses, which is currently paid for entirely by the government's £1bn Train to Gain budget, will be scrapped, with large companies paying the entire cost.