Decision details

In the Budget on 8^th March 2017, the Chancellor announced that the Government would establish a £300m discretionary fund over four years from 2017/18 to support those businesses that face the steepest increases in the business rates bills as a result of the revaluation. Local Authorities were required to design and implement their own local relief scheme to best meet the needs of their local businesses.

The Business Rates Discretionary Rate Relief scheme was amended at the Portfolio Holder Meeting in August 2017, setting out the key features of a local scheme. A further amendment was made by in January 2018, allowing for the amounts of relief awarded to be increased once all applications had been considered, in order to maximise the benefit to ratepayers.

Funding for the scheme is reduces annually, and in line with this the policy requires an amendment to reflect that amounts of relief awarded will reduce broadly in line with the reduction in funding in future years.

Further small amendments are to the rest of the policy are also required to ensure accuracy and consistency. Details of the changes required can be found in the accompanying report.

To adopt the updated version of the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy, shown in Appendix B.

The adoption of a formal policy ensures that billing and collection is carried out in accordance with the law and government requirements. It will benefit and support businesses who meet the criteria, whilst minimising the risk of legal challenge.

None.