Plans to lower business rates permanently for convenience stores and other retailers moved one step closer in England following a Commons vote on the Non-Domestic Rating Bill.

The Non-Domestic Rating Bill passed its final reading in the House of Commons on 15 January. The bill seeks to alter the way business rates are calculated. It includes a permanently lower rate for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with a rateable value of under £500,000. 

Currently, business rates are calculated by multiplying the rateable value of a property by a multiplier value set by the government. The small business multiplier is currently set at 49.9p for rateable values under £51,000 while the standard non-domestic rating multiplier is set at 54.6p for values over that amount. 

What impact will the Non-Domestic Rating Bill have?

In evidence given last year, ACS chief executive James Lowman urged MPs to set the new lower rate for retailers at 20p less than it is currently. 

In response to the recent vote, he said: “The progress of this bill marks some good news for our sector, which would benefit from a lower rates multiplier and enable more stores to invest in the long term. We urge the government to ensure the new multipliers are set at a level that would offset the cost of reduced business rates relief and unlock investment in villages, parades and high streets.”  

Calls for more business rates relief for small shops in Scotland

Meanwhile, retailers in Scotland have urged Holyrood to reconsider its proposal to exclude small shops from plans to grant 40% business rates relief to selected businesses across the country. 

In a letter to finance secretary Shona Robison, the Fed’s National President Mo Razzaq appealed to ministers to review the omission highlighting that small independent shops are more vulnerable to closure. 

He said: “Shona Robison, the finance secretary in Scotland, has the money in identified funds flowing from the UK budget but is choosing not to spend it in this way.  It is a bizarre decision as small shops in Scotland experience the same tough trading conditions as shops elsewhere.” In the budget statement, delivered last December, Robison said 40% non-domestic rates relief would be handed to small businesses, but only in the hospitality sector. MSPs are due to vote on the bill next month.

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