(Picture: PA Wire)
Thousands of London pubs, restaurants, shops and other small high street retailers will be protected by government plans to overhaul business rates in a five-year scheme worth almost £14 billion, business groups said on Thursday.
Jeremy Hunt confirmed in the Autumn Statement that the government will revalue properties on which the tax is set, but said the relief plan would mean almost two-thirds of businesses would not have to pay more for the lifetime of the measures.
The Chancellor said around 700,000 businesses would be covered by the Transitional Relief Scheme, which had been called for by lobbying groups from the Confederation of British Industry to the Federation of Small Businesses.
Fears that higher tax rates could push viable businesses under after the twin shocks of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have stalked high streets all over London and across the UK. One survey, by the specialist wholesaler for small business Ankorstore, found that almost half of the independent retailers it spoke to had considered closing.
With energy costs rising and government support measures for business energy bills less generous than for households, sharp rate rises for commercial premises were seen as a key threat for the year ahead.
There was a broad welcome for the measures, although retailers were asking for more in the run up to Mr Hunt’s plans.
Melanie Leech, Chief Executive, British Property Federation, said they would help “prevent a tide of insolvencies”, adding: “Many high street businesses have been paying artificially high rates bills for years and the Chancellor has recognised this is simply not sustainable.”
Ankorstore’s survey, undertaken before the announcements in the Autumn Statement, found that more than half of respondents were calling for “a Covid-style VAT or business rate cut”.
