Rotherham businesses set to receive free business rates for the year

Business News

Businesses across the borough that qualify for the retail rates relief scheme will see zero bills landing in the post.

Over 900 businesses in Rotherham are set to benefit from new business rates reliefs during the coronavirus outbreak.

403 businesses have already accessed existing retail reliefs and will now get an increase from 50% relief to 100% relief.

497 additional businesses are now also able to access the benefit following an expansion of the range of businesses who qualify by the government.

A number of businesses will have already received their zero bills with the rest to follow over the next few days.

Rotherham Council’s Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Services, Judith Badger said: “We are delighted that the updated, zero bills have already started to go out. It’s been a tough job to process these so quickly but we got ahead of the game by asking companies to provide information while we were still waiting on guidance from the government, which has helped us to get the help quicker to our businesses.

“We know that this will make a huge difference in helping to keep local businesses afloat, local people in jobs and in helping the local economy to recover quicker when we are in a position to begin the exit from coronavirus restrictions.”

The estimated value of the relief for Rotherham is just over £30 million.

Rotherham businesses that qualify for small business and retail relief, with a rateable value less than £51k, are also being urged to complete the Councils online form to register their details for the Business Grants scheme. This is a vital step to enable payments to be processed with over two thousand local businesses already receiving payments.

Eligible businesses will receive a cash grant of £10k or £25k depending on which scheme they qualify for:

  1. Small Business Grant - £10k Grant
  2. Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme, rateable value up to £15k - £10k Grant
  3. Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme, rateable value above £15k and below £51k - £25k Grant

The total value paid out through the scheme by the council is almost £27 million.

Payments are being released daily to ensure that the turnaround for each business from application to payment is minimised.

Financial support for business

Published: 21st April 2020