Agenda item

Summary:

1. In the Budget on 27 October 2021 the Chancellor announced the Government would award a 50% Retail Hospitality and Leisure Discount for properties up to a cash limit of £110,000 per business for the 2022/23 financial year.

2. In the Budget on 27 October 2021 the Chancellor announced the Government would extend Supporting Small Business Relief (SSB) for another year until 31 March 2023. This is for businesses that had a Rateable Value (RV) increase from 1 April 2017 caused by the revaluation and consequently lost Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rate Relief. This relief to be awarded will limit any increase in the rates to £600 per year.

3. In the Budget on 27 October 2021 the government announced that it would extend the current transitional relief scheme and for one year to the end of the current revaluation cycle. The scheme will restrict increases in bills to 15% for businesses with small properties (up to and including £20,000 rateable value) and 25% for medium properties (up to and including £100,000 rateable value).

3. On 25 March 2021 the government announced it would make available a discretionary fund to North Norfolk DC to support businesses for one year only for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 affected by COVID-19 but not eligible for existing support linked to business rates. The COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) of £1.580,862 will be allocated relief as agreed by the Norfolk councils working party.

4. On 27 January 2020, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury made a Written Ministerial Statement announcing additional business rates measures that will apply from 1 April 2020 including the extension of the £1,500 business rates discount for office space occupied by local newspapers that will apply for an additional 5 years until 31 March 2025. The scheme will be available to local newspapers that occupy office space. Under the scheme, eligible local newspaper businesses will continue to receive up to a £1,500 discount on their bill for the 2022/23 financial year.

5. The 2016 Autumn Statement confirmed the doubling of rural rate relief available to eligible businesses from 50% to 100%. The Government subsequently set out their intention to amend the relevant primary legislation to require local authorities to grant 100% mandatory rural rate relief. Following the decision not to reintroduce the Local Government Finance Bill, for 2018/19 the Government expects local authorities to continue to use their discretionary relief powers to grant 100% rural rate relief to eligible ratepayers in 2022/23, as they have done previously.

The Government expects local authorities to use their discretionary relief powers to grant these reliefs. All the above will be compensated in full for our loss of rates income because of these changes. This compensation except the CARF will be paid by section 31 grant and calculated based on the returns that the council makes under the rates retention scheme.

The Council’s Discretionary Rate Relief Policy has been revised to reflect these changes.

Conclusions:

The policy has been updated to reflect the extended schemes announced and includes guidelines as to how the schemes are to be implemented and the financial implications on the authority.

Recommendations:

Reasons for

Recommendations:

That Cabinet recommends to Full Council that the Revenues Manager has delegated authority to make decisions up to the NNDC cost value of £2k as indicated in Appendix A.

That Cabinet recommends to Full Council that the Revenues Manager has delegated authority to make Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) decisions as indicated in Appendix C.

That Cabinet notes this report and recommends to Full Council that the Rate Relief Policy is revised as indicated in Appendix A, B and C.

The new policy will enable the Retail Hospitality and Leisure Discount, Supporting Small Business Relief, transitional relief scheme, COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund, the scheme for local newspaper discount and the Rural Rate Relief to be awarded discretionary reliefs in 2019-20 onwards.

Cabinet Member(s)

Cllr E Seward

Ward(s) affected

All