OPINION: Independent retailers deserve a fair deal on business rates

On Budget day, all eyes were on the Chancellor to see what action he would take to mitigate the impact of the business rates revaluation on thousands of businesses.

When the dust settled and everyone had pored over the detail of the budget documents, it was clear that Hammond’s plans resulted in a mixed bag for our sector.

Businesses must not be forced to overpay when their rates appeals are successful

First the good news – there will be a £300m relief fund available for businesses that are seeing significant increases in their rates bills in April. The fund will not be delivered centrally though, it will be at the discretion of local authorities to distribute relief in their area and it’s up to you, the retailer, to make a case to your authority for relief.

If you would like advice on how to best make a representation about relief, get in touch with us and we’ll do everything we can to help.

The bad news on rates came not in the budget document itself, but in documents released by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the following hours which detailed the Government’s response to concerns about rates appeals.

We have been campaigning for months on the issue of rates appeals, specifically on the idea that businesses could still lose out even if their appeals are successful based on whether the valuation is considered to be within the bounds of ‘reasonable judgement’, so to find out that the Government has essentially fudged its response and tried to sneak in a proposal that is indistinguishable from the one it’s replacing (assessing whether a judgement is reasonable as opposed to reasonable professional judgement) under the radar is extremely disappointing.

Our position is clear. Businesses must not be forced to overpay when their rates appeals are successful. We will continue to make representations to Government to ensure that the voices of retailers are heard.