Chancellor to announce measures to help small firms with business rate rises
This is ostensibly good news for small town high streets.I hope the relief offered is meaningful not just a short term fix. The article tells us.
The government will offer extra help for small firms affected by an imminent change to business rates, the communities secretary has announced, saying that more should be done “to level the playing field”.
Following increasing concern from some businesses and Conservative MPs about the impact of the first business rate revaluation in seven years, Sajid Javid said the chancellor, Philip Hammond, would announce new measures in the budget on 8 March. This would form part of a wider and longer-term re-examination of the business rates system, he added.
The announcement follows a pledge from Theresa May at prime minister’s questions that small businesses left with the highest rate increases would be helped. Javid’s department said it would be revealed at the budget whether the current £3.6bn fund for transitional relief would be increased.
Speaking during a wider Commons debate on local government finance, Javid said the rates revaluation would see three-quarters of all businesses pay the same amount or less than before. “I am also acutely aware of the impact on the quarter that will see increases,” he continued. “If your rates are going up, it’s no consolation to hear that others’ will be going down. I’ve long recognised the need to provide support.”
The transitional relief fund would help more than 140,000 smaller businesses, Javid said, adding: “But as colleagues and the media have highlighted in recent days, there are clearly some individual businesses facing particular difficulties.”