CVS – the UK’s leading business rates specialist – advises that there are 5890 business rates appeals for pubs outstanding for the 2010 Ratings List, and that there will be others on the 2005 Ratings List which are not included in this total.
If so many pubs are appealing, how much greater is the figure when hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and other hospitality businesses are included?
And how much greater SHOULD it be, if all hospitality businesses reviewed the business rates they are paying?
What difference would a 17% reduction make to your business?
The average Rateable Value for these ‘outstanding’ appeals is £37,811 and, on average, CVS achieves a 17% rates reduction on successful business rates appeals for pubs. Based on this £37k figure and average 17% reduction, on successful appeals the average reduction equates to a saving of £6,400/yr for licensees – a decent sum in itself, but even more significant when you consider that this saving will be made each and every year until the next Business Rates Revaluation (which was recently put back 2 years to 2017).
Don Baker, National Head of Rating at CVS, said:
“What businesses need is a business rates system which is fair, efficient and responsive to ratepayer appeals. We do not currently have that and many businesses, especially pubs, are the real victims of backlogged appeals and over-the-odds rates charges. We want to see a rates appeals system that works for businesses rather than against them.
“Put simply, the government should be working to remove the cumbersome bureaucracy in the current appeal system. The professionals need to be empowered on either side of the table to negotiate and reach agreements so that ratepayers receive rate refunds quickly to support their businesses. This needs to be a top priority for Government, not something that can be kicked down the track like the business rates revaluation now proposed for 2017.”
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