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Autumn Budget review: Business rates relief is welcome, but will it save Britain’s struggling high streets?

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Autumn Budget review: Business rates relief is welcome, but will it save Britain’s struggling high streets?

As anticipated, Chancellor John Healey put forward a raft of packages designed to breathe life back into Britain’s struggling high streets in the Autumn Budget. His headline announcement was that the threshold for small business rate relief (SBRR) would be increased from £12,000 to £18,000, which he said would take 70,000 British businesses in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors out of paying rates altogether.

Healey said that this would be paid for by raising tax on gambling; machine game duty will rise from 20% to 25% for higher-stakes machines. He also stated that online marketplace sellers will be targeted to ensure they can’t avoid paying VAT.

Retail and small business experts have welcomed the change to SBRR. Warren Abbey, CEO of 365 Finance described it as a “big win for the private sector” and Jacyn Heavens, CEO of Epos Now, said it was “welcome news for the independent shops, cafés, pubs and leisure businesses that give our high streets their heart.”

Heavens added that it was important the change was implemented as swiftly as possible. “The priority now has to be making sure councils apply it quickly and that owners know to check whether their rateable value falls under the new £18,000 threshold, so this relief reaches the people who’ve been holding our high streets together,” she said.

Insolvency expert at Parker Walsh, Molly Monks, warned that for some businesses it could be too little, too late. “Financial pressure does not wait for government policy to take effect,” she said.


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