Discretionary revaluation support scheme

What is the discretionary revaluation support scheme?

The Government have provided funding to local authorities to help businesses that have had an increase in their business rates following the revaluation that came into force on 1 April 2017.

Which businesses will receive this help?

The relief will provide support to those businesses that are facing the steepest increases in their business rates bill as a result of the 2017 revaluation and to ratepayers occupying lower value premises. These businesses will be contacted by the council and invited to apply.

If you have not been contacted by the council, you may still be eligible to receive some relief.

Please contact the business rates team on (01482) 394748 for an application form.

The council will need an application form to be completed which will confirm the eligibility for relief and to ensure that state aid limits will not be breached.

How long will the help be available for?

The Government has made available a discretionary fund over four years.

The amount available reduces significantly each year from £0.561 million in 2017-18 to £0.016 million in 2020-21. 

As the funding decreases substantially across the four years, any award will be for a maximum of one year and a new application will need to be made for each financial year up to 2020/21.

How will the relief be awarded?

Awards under this policy will be determined after all other eligible reliefs have been applied, and will be backdated to 1 April 2017. 

The amount of relief awarded to any ratepayer may be recalculated in the event of a change to the rating list for the property concerned.

The policy that was agreed by the Cabinet, which outlines the council’s scheme, can be found below:

Discretionary revaluation support scheme (pdf 251kb)