Business Rates Relief for Certain Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Businesses
The Chancellor announced that all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will not have to pay business rates for the tax year 2020/21.
Shops, pubs, clubs, theatres, cinemas, music venues, restaurants and any other businesses in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will also receive a cash grant of up to £25,000 per business to help bridge through this period.
For businesses which do have a policy that covers pandemics, the government’s action is sufficient and will allow businesses to make an insurance claim against their policy.
All enquiries on the eligibility for, or provision of, the reliefs should be directed to the relevant local authority. Please note reliefs are not currently the same for businesses in Scotland.
Guidance on the scheme is due to be published by 20 March and was not available as we went to press with this alert.