Businesses waiting for rate relief after the 2017 revaluation should start receiving updated bills over the next few weeks after the Government set a deadline on software providers to update their platforms and help local councils generate the new bills.
The deadline of 21 August set by Local Government Minister Marcus Jones so that new bills can be issued to businesses that are due relief has now passed.
In July, a DCLG spokesman said: “We’ve been clear that local authorities should take urgent steps to make sure small businesses benefit from the funding that we announced at the Budget in April. There are councils that have pressed ahead and issued revised bills. Others have chosen to wait for software updates to deliver this particular scheme and we’ve taken steps to make sure business get this relief as quickly as possible.”
The Government aims to have new bills with affected businesses by September of this year.
The Chancellor has also confirmed that the indexation of business rates will switch from RPI to CPI from April 2020. The Treasury estimates that this will save businesses a total of £1.1bn by 2022.
A review of the business rates system in Scotland has also been published today by former RBS chair Ken Barclay, recommending more frequent revaluations as part of a package of suggested measures.
