Liz Truss, whilst campaigning to become the new Prime Minister, made a bold statement saying Business Rates would be slashed for businesses.

As always, the devil is in the detail, initial thoughts are that the government would yet again tinker with the Small Business Rates Relief aimed at assisting the Small business Occupiers that occupy just one property.

It is thought that the threshold could be raised from £15,000 to £25,000 thus extending the number of properties that could qualify for relief.

However, the number to benefit, could be extremely small, due to the “occupy one property only rule”

This amendment will not do anything to assist businesses with multiple properties and is unlikely to have any impact on stimulating the high street. With many retailers already stopping expansion plans and closing stores.

Businesses are facing many challenges and uncertainties in the coming months: –

• INCREASES IN GAS AND ELECTRICITY PRICES,
• A BUSINESS RATES REVALUATION WHICH LEADS TO INABILITY TO ACCURATELY BUDGET FUTURE RATE LIABILITIES.
• CONFIRMATION OF GOVERNMENT POLICY ON BUSINESS RATES FOLLOWING THE CONSULTATIONS OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS.

All the above are a major concern to ratepayers and need to be addressed to assist all, rather than making headline grabbing statements that will help a minority.

To find out more about what this could mean for your business, please contact our Business Rates team by emailing enquiries@sw.co.uk