Through the Budget speech and subsequent policy and guidance documents, the Government announced a number of important measures affecting Business Rates in England.

Expanded Retail Discount

The existing scheme will be extended to 30th June 2021, providing an uncapped 100% relief until that date for eligible businesses (Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Properties). If a property is (or should be) currently receiving the expanded retail discount, they will benefit from this extension.

From 1st July 2021, the scheme will provide 66% (2/3) relief for the 9 months to 31st March 2022.

Eligibility for the scheme is dictated by use wholly or mainly as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues, for assembly and leisure or as hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation.

The relief available in this second period is subject to the following caps:

• Each ratepayer can claim up to £2 million for closed properties (these are properties required by law to close as part of the 5^th January 2021 lockdown regulations)
• Each ratepayer can claim up to £105,000 for properties that were not legally required to close.
• The maximum a ratepayer can claim is £2 million.

Please note, when calculating the cap companies are evaluated at the group level and authorities will be requesting declarations regarding awards elsewhere in the country.

Ratepayers will have the option to refuse these discounts.

The above will also apply to child nurseries.

Multiplier Freeze

The Government has confirmed that the multiplier will be frozen and as such for 2021/22, the values of the multipliers are:

• non-domestic rating multiplier: 51.2p (0.512)
• small business non-domestic rating multiplier: 49.9p (0.499)

Restart Grants

While not technically business rates reliefs, we expect these to be administered based on business rates liability as previous schemes have been. As before, eligibility will be subject to Local Authorities discretion.

• up to £6,000 per property for non-essential retail business
• up to £18,000 per premises for hospitality and other sectors that are opening later

Local Authorities will also be given £425 million of discretionary grant funding to distribute as they see fit. Details and application processes on these will be down to Local Authorities.

Freeports

The recently announced Freeport tax areas will benefit from full business rates relief, once designated. Relief will be available to all new businesses, and certain existing businesses where they expand, until 30 September 2026 and will apply for five years from the point at which each beneficiary first receives relief.

The areas within each freeport have not yet been published but the 8 new freeports have been announced as: -

• East Midlands Airport
• Felixstowe & Harwich
• Humber
• Liverpool City Region
• Plymouth and South Devon
• Solent
• Teesside
• Thames