Half of all councils still failing on rates relief

Nearly half of all councils in England are yet to hand out discretionary business rates relief owed to small business.

Out of 309 local authorities, 152 are yet to distribute any of the discretionary funds, despite having seven months to do so. The total owed is expected to be worth around £86 million.

The failings are exposed by a newly published list from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) of local councils which have and have not managed to meet the government’s deadline. The threat to name and shame local councils who fail to send out the relief by October 3 was made by Nicholas Bourne, Lord and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in mid-September. Announcing the plans he said: “The pace of providing relief to ratepayers has not been acceptable.”

One council that has failed to distribute its discretionary business rates relief allocation is Lewisham, despite a spokesperson from the Council promising Retail Express in July that “The consultation is due to take place within the next few weeks.”

Retail Express has asked Lewisham Council to explain the delay and is awaiting its response.

Local Government Minister Marcus Jones commented on the slow progress stating: “While many councils have made good progress in implementing our £435 million rate relief support package for businesses, I have been clear that it is unacceptable that some haven’t acted quickly enough.”

He continued: “All other councils now need to follow their example to make sure that their local businesses benefit from the additional relief they are entitled to.”

When Retail Express asked the DCLG what action it would be taking against non compliant local authorities, a spokesperson answered: “Although we can’t force councils to distribute the scheme, we will be encouraging them ourselves and continuing to put the pressure on.”

FSB chairman Mike Cherry described the list as “truly shocking.” He commented: “Anything less than every English council having every relief measure in place is unacceptable. While those responsible have spent months playing the blame game, small firms have been trying to keep their heads above water.”

Research by Retail Express shows that businesses in some areas may have a long while to wait until they receive the relief owed to them, with some councils such as Charnwood in Leicestershire yet to even meet and discuss the implementation of discretionary rates relief.

Do it: See if your local authority is yet to distribute its discretionary rates relief allocation