Councillor Clarence Barrett, Cabinet member for Financial Management, Transformation and IT presented the report of Dave Gibbs, Head of Revenues and Transactional Finance to Cabinet.

The report sets out the Council’s proposals for administering the Revaluation Support Scheme (RSS) which is outside the scope of the provision of standard relief.  In the March 2017 Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Government would provide £300 million to support the businesses most adversely affected by the recent revaluation of commercial properties. The funding will be available over a period of four years.

The RSS will allow Havering to grant relief of up to £1.696 million and will be applied to fully fund the award of relief to eligible businesses across the local share (split between the Council and the GLA) and the central share.  The Government have confirmed that Authorities must use their annual allocation within each year. It will not be permissible to carry over any unspent allocation.

The proposed scheme will apply an equal allocation to all accounts which:

·       Have a rateable value of between £15,000 and £50,999

·       Have incurred an increase of 2% or more in business rates compared to 2016/17

·       are occupied; and

·       are not in receipt of any Mandatory or Discretionary Relief.

Limiting the Rateable Value thresholds will ensure the maximum support for smaller businesses and independent traders.

Qualifying properties with a Rateable Value below £12,000 will already receive 100% relief under a separate relief scheme.  Tapered relief is also available to business with a Rateable Value between £12,000 and £15,000.

The total assistance the Council will be able to offer for 2017/18 is limited to the funding provided of 0.989 million.  An analysis of the tax base has been undertaken and it has been established that there are 1,422 properties within the Rateable Value range of £15,000 to £50,999.  Within these properties 308 have either experienced a decrease in their rates charge or there charge has been limited to a maximum of 25.

The proposal will therefore provide relief to up to 1,114 small businesses up to a maximum amount of £887.79 each.  Exclusions will apply including betting shops and pay day lenders as depicted in Appendix 1 of the report.

Properties which were not on the rating list as of 1st April, 2017, will not be eligible for the relief.

The scheme and levels of funding allocation will be kept under review.

Relief will be dealt with by way of application.  The Council will deal with all applications proactively; visiting premises to ensure applications are made correctly and processed expeditiously.

Cabinet:

• APPROVED the proposed Discretionary Revaluation Support Scheme as set out in the report to Cabinet.
• NOTED that the scheme will be reviewed after year 1 by the Chief Financial Officer in consultation with the Lead Member to ensure that the scheme is delivering maximum support to businesses.

Reasons for the Decision:

• The Council is required by central government to implement a Discretionary Revaluation Support Scheme.  The Council does not have the ability to abstain from the implementation of the scheme.

Other Options Considered:

·       There were other criteria upon which the scheme could be based. However, it was considered that the proposals outlined in the report, best seek to maximise the support to small businesses.