Business Rates
This coverage examines business rates policy and its implications for the UK retail sector. Reporting focuses on government decisions, reforms, rate relief measures, and their impact on store operations, profitability, and investment decisions. Tailored for retail executives and managers, it provides analysis to help navigate costs, advocate for change, and plan effectively in response to fiscal pressures.
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Apr- 2019 -8 AprilClothing & Shoes
Ann Summers calls in advisers after £3.3m loss
Lingerie retailer, Ann Summers, has announced it has appointed a property adviser in order to help with rent reductions, after a £3.3m loss last year replaced a £2.9m profit in the year previous. The retailer blamed rising store costs along with the fall of sterling due to Brexit, which it…
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4 AprilAnalysis
Securing the future of the UK high street
UK High Streets have reached a ‘tipping point’. That was the view of a recently published parliamentary inquiry report on UK high streets. The shift to online sales (now accounting for 20% of all retail sales); the upward revaluation of business rates, previous planning policies; and local authority financing constraints…
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1 AprilEconomy
Shops, pubs and restaurants to get £500m tax reprieve
Small firms on England’s embattled high streets are set to share in half a billion pounds worth of tax cuts as business rates bills are slashed, real estate adviser Altus Group has said. The government announced a business rates discount scheme for small sized high street properties in England which…
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Mar- 2019 -21 MarchGovernment
Retailers left waiting for rates discounts as deadline approaches
Businesses in England were promised millions of pounds in support by the chancellor last October but, less than two weeks before the start of the new tax year on 1 April, many are still either waiting for discounts worth up to £8,000 or haven’t yet applied. The government announced a…
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12 MarchGovernment
Digital Services Tax extended to include 2% ‘Amazon tax’
High streets government minister, Jake Berry, has promised to extend the Digital Services Tax to include a “2% tax on online retail” to save Britain’s high streets. Berry confirmed that the tax, announced at last October’s Autumn Budget, would be extended to online retailers saying if the government cannot secure…
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1 MarchGovernment
Business rates appeals drop under ‘complicated’ system
Businesses are struggling with the new ‘check challenge appeal’ (CCA) business rates appeals system, according to rating experts at Colliers International, commercial real estate agency and consultancy. New figures released by the government show that in the 21 months between 1 April 2017, when the new system for appealing against…
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Feb- 2019 -21 FebruaryGovernment
MPs call for business rates reform to save high street
The housing, communities and local government committee has said “dated policies” and an “unfair tax regime” needed reforming to allow high streets and town centres to flourish in its report into the future of the UK high street. The report highlighted the disparity between taxes paid by bricks-and-mortar retailers and…
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12 FebruaryHigh Street
West End retailers face £45m rates hike in April
Retailers located in London’s West End are set to face a £45m rates tax increase in April, according to a report by real estate advisor Altus Group. Business rates help announced at the Autumn Budget last year, which promised to slash bills by a third for high street business in…
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11 FebruaryHigh Street
18,722 retail jobs lost or at risk since Christmas day
Some 18,722 retail staff, 400 every single day, have either been made redundant or have had their jobs threatened since Christmas day, according to new data from real estate data service Altus. Oddbins, Patisserie Valerie, Greenwoods, Chapelle, tReds and HMV have all entered administration, with the music and film retailer…
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1 FebruaryHigh Street
Oddbins falls into administration
Off licence chain Oddbins has fallen into administration with parent company European Food Brokers (EFB) blaming the deterioration of the high street, Brexit and “economic uncertainty”. Duff & Phelps has been appointed to run the business and help it to find a buyer. Oddbins has 45 outlets across the UK…
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