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  • The time for business rates reform is now

The time for business rates reform is now

The CBI and over 40 trade associations call for the government to deliver on its promise.

14 Oct 2021, 2 min read

Following the CBI’s submission of Spending Review & Budget proposals, over the past month we have continued our campaign for seismic reform of the business rates system. As part of this, we have ramped up our private engagement with HM Treasury, Ministers and MPs from across Parliament.

On the public front, business rates formed a key focus of Tony Danker's speech on unleashing investment. Alongside this, the CBI’s presence at the Political Party Conferences provided further impetus to our messages about the importance of fixing the business rates system, to help unlock green investment and support the levelling-up agenda.

To keep the momentum going, we have today released a public statement on the need for business rates reform. The statement has received support from 40 Trade Associations (TAs), including BRC, UK Hospitality, REC, ADS, Association of Convenience Stores, British Beer & Pub Association, and British Property Federation. This gives us a base of TAs that speak for over 260,000 employers, and over 9 million employees. See our intervention.

The statement includes the following asks of government:

  1. Reduce the overall burden of the business rates system to unlock business investment in net zero and support levelling-up. Allow business rates liabilities to fall in line with property values, and without further increases in the headline rate, equivalent to a reduction in the uniform business rate for these businesses. Ensure firms can instantly benefit from any fall in property values following a revaluation, while maintaining a phased transition to a higher bill where property values increase
  2. Increase the frequency of business rates revaluations and ensure rates adjust quickly to economic changes to ensure business rates reflect firms’ ability to pay
  3. Create a ‘greener’ business rates system to support the government’s net zero ambition, unlocking investment to make buildings more energy efficient and decarbonising property stock, starting with exempting green Plant & Machinery and new technologies that directly link to the ‘green’ agenda, including solar PV and heat pumps, from business rates.

Read the statement in full

To see the CBI’s Budget/ Spending Review asks on business rates in full, please see our full submission here. To find out more about our business rates campaign, head over to our website page and to get involved, please contact Adriana Curca, Senior Economist.