Local authorities will be able to access a £300m fund in order to ease business rate revaluation challenges in their local areas, chancellor Philip Hammond has announced.
The pot is part of a £435m allocation designed to tackle the stark variation in changes to business rates across the country after it was revealed rates in London would rise by 11% above inflation, while in the North they would fall by 10%.
It remains unclear how the fund will be allocated across the country. Mr Hammond said communities secretary Sajid Javid would reveal the formula ‘in due course’.
Other measures include a new cap preventing rates for businesses leaving small business rate relief increasing by more than £50 in the next year.
Pubs with a rateable value less than £100,000 will also be granted a £1,000 discount – a measure that will aid 90% of pubs across the country.
Responding to the announcements, IPPR North director Ed Cox claimed the need for business rates intervention was ‘due to our dysfunctional approach to funding local government’.
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