Government Pledges £13.6 Billion Business Rates Relief Package in Autumn Statement

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has unveiled a surprise package worth £13.6 billion to help business rates payers in today's Autumn Statement.

The government said it remained committed to introducing new valuations of properties to reflect more recent market conditions from 1 April of next year, but in response to prices rising around the world will introduce a package of relief measures now. These are:

• Freezing the business rates multiplier for another year to protect businesses from rising inflation, worth £9.3 billion over the next five years.
• An extended and increased relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth almost £2.1 billion. The government said this is the most generous in year business rates relief in over 30 years, outside COVID-19 support.
• Reforming Transitional Relief. For businesses seeing lower bills as a result of the revaluation, the government will make sure they benefit from that decrease in full straight away, by abolishing downwards transitional relief caps. The government also announced a £1.6 billion scheme to cap bill increases for businesses who will see higher bills as a result of the revaluation.
• Protection for small businesses who lose eligibility for either Small Business or Rural Rate Relief due to new property valuations through a "more generous" Supporting Small Business scheme worth over £500 million.

This package means that the total increase in business rates bills will be less than 1%, compared with over 20% without intervention, the government said. It added that the package as a whole "exceeds expectations from stakeholders including business representative organisations, ratings agencies and large retailers". Hunt said to the Commons: “It is an important principle that bills should accurately reflect market values. So we will proceed with the revaluation of business properties from April 2023. But I will soften the blow on businesses with a nearly £14 billion tax cut over the next five years. Nearly two-thirds of properties will not pay a penny more next year and thousands of pubs, restaurants and small high street shops will benefit. This will include a new, Government funded transitional relief scheme, as called for by the Confederation of British Industry, the British Retail Consortium, the Federation of Small Businesses and others, benefitting around 700,000 businesses.”

CoStar News.