How Many More Nails Can the ‘Retail’ Coffin Take?

Yesterday, the Welsh Government minister for Economy Rebecca Evans laid out plans to reduce the value of Business Rates Relief for Retail, Leisure & Hospitality, helping to drive another nail into the coffin that is our high streets and town and city centres up and down the country. Caldicot fares no better, with sky high rents and unsustainable business rates for new businesses. here, Caldicot Town Team provide more detail behind the headlines in the media.

Business rates, we all know that business rates are a tax on businesses than few can afford when running a small business. Yes, there are some business rate reliefs, but these are only helpful if the system is fair and just, something that members of Caldicot Town Team have been tracking for some years now.

Rebecca Evans has yesterday confirmed in her statement at the Senedd, that those businesses who are eligible for Small Business Rate Relief, will be receiving less than originally planned. The discounted available rate is down from 75% to just 40% for the financial year 2024/2025.

This breaks down into an increase of hundreds of pounds for small businesses across Wales

2023/2024 Small Business Rate Relief (SBBR)

2024/2025 Small Business Rate Relief (SBBR)

• *Provisional multiplier of 0.562

Rebecca Evans commented

“Eligible ratepayers will receive 40% non-domestic rates relief for the duration of 2024-25. As in previous years, the relief will be capped at £110,000 per business across Wales. This temporary relief was never intended to continue indefinitely.

The above figures give an estimate cost to Non-Domestic Business Rates in the following financial year.

With regards to the quote above by Rebecca Evans here at Caldicot Town Team our team have done a little bit of digging into the figures. frustratingly it seems that small businesses are still out priced and the result of a failure of the NDR system.

The figures above show the massive disparity with business rates, with small businesses in the town centre paying a base rate of 250 per square metre, compared with larger units (national supermarkets) paying half that amount per metre. This is just a simple example of how the Non Domestic Business Rates does not work for small businesses.

Caldicot Town Team are continuing to document all of the business rates in the local area and will be publishing the new data in the new year.

Things are hard enough in the retail, leisure and hospitality sections, with many businesses still feeling the effects of Covid, Inflation, Cost of living crisis and even the Russia-Ukraine war. With less disposable income for consumers, businesses should be supported,, by that we mean actual support that enables businesses to grow, prosper and help to build our communities, town centres and city centres into thriving towns once more. The government can enable our towns to thrive, they just don’t seem to want to.