Issue - meetings

[Report of the Chief Finance Officer. To be introduced by the  Cabinet Member for Economic Development , Social Inclusion and Sustainability.]

Following consultation on options to agree  new discretionary business rates relief  scheme targeted at businesses that have seen their bills increase following revaluation.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability introduced the report which set out the Council’s allocation of Government’s funding for discretionary business rate relief and sought agreement on the criteria for allocating this additional business rate relief to local businesses.

RESOLVED

To approve the Discretionary Business Rates Relief – Revaluation Support Policy, as appended to this report at Appendix B and described in more detail at section 6 of the attached report, which:

Ø    Allocates discretionary business rates relief to rate payers where -

The business rate increase is £500 or more (after all other applicable reliefs have been applied)

Ø    Automatically applies a 42% discount on the monetary increase in business rates to affected businesses in 2017/18

With the following exclusions:

a)    Premises occupied by multinational and national chain

companies

b)    Excepted hereditaments within the meaning of s 47 Local Government Finance Act 1988 and wider public sector premises

c)    Businesses not located in the borough for the duration of 2016/17 and/or have left since April 2017

d)    Premises with rateable values in excess of £200,000

Reasons for decision

This policy proposal sits in the context of the Council’s wider economic

growth priorities for the borough. We believe the recommended policy best supports economic growth as it targets small, medium-sized and independent businesses over multinational, and national chain businesses. The policy proposal aligns with the Council’s existing policies to encourage business resilience and growth in Haringey and support local job creation. For this reason, the policy proposal supports private businesses over public sector premises (a number of which are hereditaments already excluded in accordance with s 47 Local Government Finance Act 1988).

Haringey Council will be expected to use discretionary business rates relief

to distribute the Government’s extra funding for ‘revaluation support’ to those businesses that have seen increases in their bills. The rationale behind the proposal and options consulted on are detailed in section 6 of this report; and principles below:

·         Target relief at businesses that are facing an increase in their business

rate bills following the revaluation, encompassing different sizes, sectors and locations across the borough

·         Distribute the extra relief in a way that is proportionate to how much a businesses’ bill has increased, and in a fair and equal manner

·         Apply to ratepayers occupying lower value properties

·         Ensure that the extra relief is distributed to local businesses quickly and smoothly

·         Be relatively simple for the Council to administer

Reason for decisions

We are also seeking to ensure that relief for businesses is distributed as

quickly as possible and minimises administrative costs where possible. We believe this is fundamental, both to the Government’s intentions of the scheme and to our priorities to support businesses that have seen large increases in their business rates since the 2017 revaluation.

Alternative options considered

To apply the relief in a similar way to that recommended (in section 6) but to

also include (rather than exclude) multinational and national chain businesses in the scheme. In expanding the number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13