Confusion over rate relief disparity

A Devon licensee has hit out at the business rate-relief system after he missed out on the rates holiday, extended in the Budget for another year, because he qualifies for a different form of relief.

When Geoff Randall moved to the Staple Cross Inn, in Hockworthy, Devon he was advised to apply for rural settlement relief instead of small business rate relief (SBRR) because he would get a bigger discount.

The rateable value (RV) of the pub is £5,200, with business rates set at £2,251, on which he gets a 50% discount under rural settlement relief.

But it means he misses out on the Government's plans for the rate-relief holiday for any pub with an RV below £6,000 and greater discounts for those with a rateable value below £12,000. Under that scheme Randall would pay no rates at all.

Randall was told by Mid- Devon District Council that he qualified for rural rate relief and not small business rate relief because his was the only pub in the village.

"All they could say was to contact the Government about it," he said. "We're a very small pub in the middle of nowhere and there's only about 200 people in the village."

Another Devon licensee affected is Adrian Hember of the Old Malt Scoop Inn, in Lapford.

His RV is £8,000 and his local authority has applied rural settlement relief in-stead of SBRR, meaning that he is only getting a 50% discount instead of the 66.6% relief he should get if SBRR was applied.

Fleurets ratings surveyor Michael Yass said: "We need a way in which the Government [designs] it so that businesses get the greater of either. There aren't many pubs that are hit by both, but those that are are pretty miffed."