Background
Business rates, also known as National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR), are a tax on organisations and companies that are using a building or office space for business purposes.
From 1 April 2017 all commercial buildings and offices have been given a new rateable value, used to calculate the amount of business rates a business occupying the space has to pay. This process is known as “revaluation” and is controlled by the government.
In the Spring 2017 budget, the government announced £300 million for local councils to finance business rates relief for revaluation support. The government’s extra funding can only support relief schemes targeted at businesses facing an increase in their business rates bill following the 2017 revaluation.
The government’s allocation of funding for Bromley is set out below:
| Discretionary "pot" (£000's) | |||
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
| 1,405 | 682 | 281 | 40 |
This consultation is about Bromley’s proposed scheme for revaluation support using the above levels of funding.
Proposed scheme
Bromley’s scheme is designed to mirror the criteria used by the government when allocating the available national “pot” between local authorities. The details of which are below.
Relief is limited to properties where:
- there is a rateable value under £200k
- there has been an increase in liability (before other reliefs are applied) of more than 12.5 percent
- there has been an increase in business rates after all other reliefs applied
- the business has received less than €200,000 state aid in the current and previous 2 years
Assistance would not be given in respect of London Borough of Bromley properties, properties held by the Official Receiver and properties whilst empty.
Based on available funding, discretionary relief at the following percentages of the net increase for 2017/18 would be granted *:
| Financial year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 25% |
| 2018/19 | 12.25% |
| 2019/20 | 5% |
| 2020/21 | 0.7% |
* If the authority is permitted to transfer funds between years a review will be undertaken in year 2 as to the level of assistance that can be provided in subsequent years.
A hardship fund of £50,000 will be made available for those businesses that have experienced an increase in business rates as a result of the revaluation and whose circumstances are such that the authority wishes to provide more assistance than would be payable under the scheme.
Have your say
We gave businesses the opportunity to give feedback on our proposals.
This survey closed on 30 June 2017, thank you to all those who responded.
The results of the consultation were presented to the Executive for consideration when deciding on a scheme to be adopted. The Executive agreed the scheme on 19 July 2017.