Over 1,000 small businesses and charities will benefit from £700,000 in business rate relief thanks to a decision made by the Conservative-led City of York Council that no business or charity with a rateable value below £200,000 will have to pay an increase in their business rates in 2017/18.
The decision follows a Central Government business rates revaluation exercise which would potentially have seen many small businesses facing an immediate rates increase of 12.5% or more. The council’s decision means that £700,000 of government funds will be automatically redistributed across the city to cover such increases, without the need for the businesses themselves to wade through a rate relief application process.
Conservative councillor David Carr, Leader of the council, said: “Adopting this policy means we can help support over 1,000 businesses and charities across York, benefitting both them and our wider economy. Applying the relief automatically prevents the need for a time-consuming application process and makes sure that no qualifying business or charity misses out.”