Business leaders have reacted angrily to calls to give smokers time off to help them quit.

Smoking is estimated to cost industry £5 billion in lost productivity, absenteeism and fire damage.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), a Government watchdog, has recommended smokers are given time off, without losing pay, to attend clinics that help them stop.

But Sussex Enterprise said the move would harm business and was "going too far".

Gill Edinburgh, director of strategy, said: "While businesses welcome steps to improve the health of employees, giving staff paid time off to help them quit smoking is going too far and would have a negative impact on productivity and the morale of non-smoking workers.

"Small businesses are already burdened with a plethora of legal obligations to allow employees time off work, such as maternity and paternity leave, which puts a strain on how they operate.

"This suggestion by Nice assumes that employers take responsibility for an employee's smoking addiction, when really this is a matter for individuals to tackle."

Nice said employers should be doing all they could to help staff give up smoking in the run-up to the nationwide smoking ban, which begins on July 1. This will prohibit smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces.

The watchdog's guidance said employers should develop a specific policy on how to support employees who want to give up smoking.

It also called on NHS stop smoking services to help business support staff by running clinics on firms' premises.

But the most radical suggestion is that employers should allow staff to attend antismoking clinics in work time.

Dr John Moore-Gillon, president of the British Lung Foundation, said: "We hope all employers would try to improve the general health of their employees.

"However, employers would have to decide for how long they were prepared to give employees time off to attend smoking cessation clinics.

"Large employers could consider whether organising lunchtime or afterwork clinics might be helpful."

Smokers' lobby group Forest said the idea was "ridiculous".

The Federation of Private Business said staff should pay fees if they were unable to quit.

Victoria Carson, campaigns manager, said: "For some there may be a business case for letting their staff take time off to attend such a clinic.

"In those instances, it should be done so the worker repays the cost of the time off to the employer should he or she continue smoking.

"Where do we draw the line? What provisions would be put in place if the clinics failed to help the employee? Many smokers struggle to quit and businesses must not be left with a growing bill."

Others argued the measures could help improve the health of staff and therefore their productivity.

But some business leaders have questioned whether it is right to interfere with people's private lives.

Jeremy Taylor, chairman of Sussex and East Surrey business association CADIA, said: "Business owners should do everything in their power to help encourage a healthy lifestyle in the workplace.

"However, I do worry we have one more initiative here that lays the burden on them when we should be looking for people to take responsibility for themselves.

"We have to treat our employees equally.

What are we going to do when our nonsmoking employees request time off to deal with their lifestyle issues?"