Business rates in Wales will be frozen for the 2023-24 financial year, the Welsh Government will announce in its upcoming draft Budget. The decision is part of a package of governmental support worth more than £460m over the next two financial years to help with the effects of rising costs.
All businesses in Wales will benefit from the new rates support which includes freezing the non-domestic rates multiplier (currently 0.53 which is times rateable values) for 2023-24, at a cost of more than £200m over the next two years, ensuring that there is no inflationary increase in the amount of rates businesses and other ratepayers are paying.
Earlier this month, some 15 business representative groups and industry bodies, including CBI Wales, FSB Wales and the Wales Tourism Alliance, wrote to Finance Minister Rebecca Evans urging her to match England on business rates.
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The support package also includes a further £113m over the next two years to provide transitional relief for all ratepayers whose bills increase by more than £300 following the UK-wide revaluation exercise, which takes effect on 1 April 2023.
While another £140m will support businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors. Eligible ratepayers will receive 75% non-domestic rates relief for 2023‑24, a rise from the 50% relief provided in 2022-23
The Welsh Government said the package will provide a "boost to businesses across Wales which are struggling to cope with the impacts of high inflation and surging energy costs".
The package will operate in addition to permanent relief schemes from the Welsh Government which are already providing £240m of relief to ratepayers across Wales this year.
Minister for Finance and Local Government, Rebecca Evans said: “We know that businesses are feeling the pressure of spiralling energy costs and rising inflation, while they are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic.
“We want businesses to know now that we will continue to apply substantial discounts to their rates bills, and that this package of support will help businesses to thrive in the hard times we know they are facing.”
Minister for Economy Vaughan Gething said: "We want Wales to be an attractive place to live, study, work and invest, with businesses supported to deliver a stronger, fairer, greener Welsh economy.
“The additional support we have announced today will help us provide more certainty for businesses despite rising costs. I remain fully committed to moving the economy forward by supporting businesses to grow and thrive.”
Director of CBI Wales, Ian Price, said: "Thousands of businesses face not only an unprecedented increase of around 10% in their business rates bill this April, but new property revaluations will mean a further increase in their overheads at the worst possible time.
“The Welsh Government’s decision to step in to prevent an increase of around 10% hitting firms is a glimmer of good news in an otherwise challenging climate. Welsh firms will now benefit from the same protections the Chancellor introduced for English firms at the Autumn Statement.
“Social partners should now use this reprieve to see how Wales can reform business rates so it becomes a driver of growth and employment.”
Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: "The announcements on business rates show the Welsh Government has heard and listened to the concerns and representations of the retail industry. This is a welcome cashflow and confidence fillip for the industry at a time when it is under immense pressure. Retailers are working incredibly hard to support customers – expanding value ranges, fixing the prices of essential items, and offering discounts to vulnerable households.
"This Budget decision on rates supports that commitment by easing the upwards pressure on prices in the short term, and helps retailers in Wales protect jobs, keep shops open, and protect the vibrancy of local communities.”
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