Business rates burden sees bailiff interventions rising

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 23, 2019

The subject of burdensome UK business rates has come to the fore again with news that local councils are sending bailiffs into hundreds of businesses on a daily basis because of business rates arrears.

In the year to the end of March it was revealed that more than 69,000 companies were visited by bailiffs, according to information given to real estate specialist Altus.

The news has emerged just a month after a group of prominent retailers wrote to the government to demand action about the burden of business rates, which are basically property taxes, and the impact they’re having on high streets.

Retailers with physical shops pay a disproportionately high percentage of the overall business rates paid in the UK and it's been estimated that those property taxes are higher than any other country in Europe. That's despite the UK also seeing the fastest shift to online shopping and the largest number of physical shops closing down.

Altus has estimated that English business rates as a whole could increased by £536 million in the 2020/21 financial year, with retail accounting for £137 million of that.

Retailers — and Altus — have been calling for the Chancellor to remove the automatic inflationary increase in the upcoming autumn budget as one way of reducing the burden.