• Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Conference
  • Events Calendar
  • Webcast151
  • MOTB
  • Log In
  • Register

Room 151

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews

Business rates relief secure after NICs u-turn

0
  • by Colin Marrs
  • in 151 News · Funding · Resources
  • — 16 Mar, 2017

U-turn: Chancellor Philip Hammond. Photo (cropped): Gareth Milner, CC0

The government’s u-turn on national insurance contributions will not scupper the £300m transitional business rates relief announced in last week’s budget, according to ministers.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced earlier this week that it will not not pursue last week’s announcement to raise class 4 national insurance contributions for the self-employed.

But speaking in the Lords this week, Lord Young of Cookham, cabinet office spokesman in the Lords, dismissed fears that the move would reduce the amount available for business rates relief also announced in the Budget.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Scriven challenged Lord Young, saying: “As the national insurance contribution changes were widely briefed by the government to pay for extra social care funding and business rates support, will the minister now give an absolute guarantee that local government budgets will not be raided to pay for the gap that has now been made by this u-turn?”

Lord Young of Cookham. Photo: Cabinet Office

In response, Lord Young said: “The support that we announced for local government in the budget will go ahead and will not be affected by the announcement today.”

Separately, Hammond said in a letter to Treasury select committee chair Andrew Tyrie that he will announce how the money lost through the NICs u-turn would be made up in the Autumn budget.

Meanwhile, the DCLG has revealed its allocations to individual councils under the relief scheme, covering the next four years.

All authorities, barring the Isles of Scilly, will get a minimum of £100,000 for relief for 2017-18, with the amounts tapering off year-by-year.

London councils will get the most support — making up nine of the top 10 highest allocations, along with Birmingham.

Westminster City Council will get the largest share, with £19.9m over the four-year period.

Authorities will be free to decide how to allocate the cash, but will be required to only pay it to businesses facing a rise in their bill under revaluation.

The government said it had calculated the allocations by providing a proportion of the total increase in bills for properties with a rateable value of less than £200,000 facing rises of more than 12.5% on bills for this year.

Phil Seddon, head of finance at Rossendale Borough Council — which received the smallest share outside of the Scilly Isles — said: “Whatever money comes from central government, we will be passing it on. We are doing our own analysis of the impact.

“We only have about 2,500 business rate payers and a lot of small businesses are getting full relief. The biggest bills are to the supermarkets.”

Phil Vernon, head of rating at consulting firm PwC, described the relief scheme, while welcome, as “just a sticking plaster” over fundamental problems in the current rates system.

He said the new relief would create a fresh administrative burden for local authorities and ratepayers, and the “government will need to cut out red tape by making the relief process as painless as possible.”

He added: “A costly application process will add more frustration and confusion to the business rates system.”

However, communities secretary Sajid Javid said in a letter to Conservative MPs that the funding will allow local authorities to more than double the sums they spend on discretionary relief in 2017/18.

Get the Room151 Newsletter

Share

You may also like...

  • Councils look to property for savings and revenue Councils look to property for savings and revenue 5 Jan, 2012
  • CFO secrets: Revisiting ‘purpose’ helps ensure your finance function is fit for the job 11 Sep, 2020
  • Arlingclose raises concerns over bond agency Arlingclose raises concerns over bond agency 10 Apr, 2014
  • Barclays’ court submission denies councils’ LOBO fraud claim Barclays’ court submission denies councils’ LOBO fraud claim 8 May, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Latest tweets

    Room151 3 days ago

    How can local government ‘build back better’?: Beverley Gower-Jones looks at the options for driving small business entrepreneurship in clean technologies. Innovation is essential for local authorities to save money and reduce emissions, it is the… dlvr.it/RtT3nS pic.twitter.com/bSMB6OG70t

    Room151 3 days ago

    Helen Randall: Spelthorne report places spotlight on ‘controls’: Fresh criticism of Spelthorne Council raises the question of what “good” controls look like when negotiating a property deal. Spelthorne Council’s continuing debacle over property… dlvr.it/RtSPhy pic.twitter.com/9uCOJgBcH6

    Room151 3 days ago

    Step-out strategies: Hitting the sweet spot between liquidity and ultra-short duration: Sponsored article: Jemma Clee describes how an ultra-short duration strategy can help local authorities enhance returns. Despite the expectation of a low, and… dlvr.it/RtSPZb pic.twitter.com/pdXPpv5lcN

    Room151 4 days ago

    What role will climate change have on the pricing of government bonds?: Sponsored article: Kerry Duffain finds that “vulnerability and resilience to climate change” have a significant impact on the cost of government borrowing. Ardea Investment… dlvr.it/RtNKv7 pic.twitter.com/wDjT31x4Yt

    Room151 5 days ago

    ESGenius: Slashing emissions will fuel green growth for decades: Sponsored article: Velislava Dimitrova argues that a big enough investment could mean transition to a low, or no, carbon economy can become a reality. The world needs to slash carbon[...] dlvr.it/RtKZJp pic.twitter.com/cd8S3ijERl

    Room151 5 days ago

    Prudential code: “Not perfect, but its heart is in the right place”: The new Prudential Code offers revised rules for borrowing. Nikki Bishop is sceptical it will work while Gary Fielding offers his support. Nikki Bishop I have been asked to give[...] dlvr.it/RtKZFh pic.twitter.com/OriN28lXcb

    Room151 6 days ago

    Tremendous report from @MarkSandford3 citing @room_151 no fewer than six times (despite what the @lgcplus fact checking/counting dept might tell you) #localgov commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brief… 1/5

    Room151 2 weeks ago

    Dan Bates: Capitalisation directions are not the only tool for rebuilding finances: Dan Bates argues deep seated problems are contributing to a rush for capitalisation directions. For some time now we have been reading that a number of councils are in… dlvr.it/RspKff pic.twitter.com/xRRsgVim9u

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Blogs
    • Chris Buss
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • Dan Bates
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • LGPSi
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Recent Posts
    • Resources
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Fitzgerald
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Treasury
    • Uncategorized
  • Archives

    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Stephen Sheen: The auditor’s dreaded knock on the door
  • Next story Commercialisation drives review of Prudential Code

© Copyright 2021 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.