Rother District Council (RDC) has to design a discretionary rate relief scheme for businesses badly hit by changes to business rates and invites the views of local businesses. This is in line with the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s spring budget announcement of measures to alleviate some of the financial burden on businesses following the national revaluation of business rates that came into force on April 1 2017.
Whilst a number of businesses have seen their rateable value decrease, a wide variation has been found in the amount of percentage increase in rateable value and the type of business affected, with the highest increase being 477%. The type of businesses adversely affected by the revaluation in Rother has been analysed based on the Valuation Office Agency classifications. The top six most affected businesses by type are: shops 73; holiday units 58; public houses 48; office accommodation 48; warehousing 46, and communications (including masts) 45.
The new government-funded relief will limit relief for those covered by the scheme to an increase to £600 each year for the next five years and be available only to businesses with a rateable value of less than £100,000. This will ensure the available funding is targeted at small medium enterprises (SMEs) within the district. Qualifying businesses will be written to shortly, inviting them to apply for the relief which will be backdated to April 1 2017.
RDC will discuss this at its cabinet meeting on July 31
Source: Rother District Council