2021 business rates revaluation postponed

Legislation had been introduced to bring the next revaluation forward by one year from 2022 to 2021 but following the economic impact of the pandemic, ministers said they wanted to ensure businesses have more certainty during this time.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said: “We have listened to businesses and their concerns about the timing of the 2021 business rates revaluation and have acted to end that uncertainty by postponing the change.

“Now is the time for us to continue to focus on supporting businesses affected by the pandemic, including our unprecedented package of almost £10bn in business rates relief.”

Real estate adviser Altus Group UK president of expert services said: "It is far more beneficial economically to tie new rateable values under the next revaluation cycle to post Covid-19 levels, where the impact of the economic circumstances are more clear and when businesses will have longer to recover."

Business rates holiday

This comes after Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced all pubs, regardless of their rateable value, would benefit from a business rates holiday until March 2021​.

He outlined financial support measures from an economic response to the impact of coronavirus, at a press conference on 17 March, less than a week after his Budget (11 March), which also included a grant of up to £25,000 per business for pubs with a rateable value of less than £51,000.

However, with regards to the grants, this means almost 10,000 pubs with a rateable value of more than £51,000 would miss out​.

Some 9,184 pubs will miss out on a grant of any kind because their rateable value is too high, according to the Altus Group’s analysis of business rates-paying pubs for England and Wales as of 31 March 2020.

Further action

This figure included 5,677 pubs in the band of £51,000 to £100,000 and 3,507 in the band of £100,001 or more. This is out of a total of 41,011 pubs, meaning more than one in five pubs will lose out because their rateable value is too high.

Trade bodies UKHospitality (UKH) and the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) called on the Government for further action​.

UKH boss Kate Nicholls pointed out almost three quarters (71%) of hospitality business is carried out in a venue with a rateable value of more than £51,000 and, therefore, ineligible for a grant but this was not restricted to large pubs because community-based venues also don’t qualify.

The BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “There are still 10,000 pubs that currently aren’t eligible for any Government grants. Even for those pubs that are eligible for grants, they can’t come soon enough. Brewers too need more support in the form of a duty deferral to free up much-needed cash during this crisis.”