Business rates relief still not available to pubs and restaurants, according to ALMR
It also found no evidence of any councils issuing the £1,000 promised pub-specific relief.
According to new ALMR analysis, millions of pounds worth of promised business rates relief has still not been made accessible to pubs and restaurants.
The promised package of support announced at the Spring Budget, including £1,000 in relief for pubs with a rateable value of £100,000 or below and a £300 million discretionary fund for local authorities, has not been received by hard pressed businesses.
In a sample of 25 local authorities, 22 had yet to develop a scheme to distribute discretionary relief worth £31 million.
ALMR chief executive Kate Nicholls said, “The fact that this relief has been made available to local authorities and is still not getting through to where it is most needed, proves we need immediate and wholesale reform of a broken system. Pubs and restaurants are in urgent need of financial assistance and have already seen some closures across London due in part to spiralling business rates bills and these delays risk others suffering the same fate.
“Local authorities are sitting on money that has been earmarked for hardworking and very hard-pressed businesses. In some cases, those local authorities that have devised schemes for discretionary rates have excluded pubs, the very businesses that have been hardest hit. Councils need to make their relief schemes as fair as possible, and be free from restrictions or red tape as businesses of all sizes and trading styles are in need of support.
Nicholls also noted the recent consumer research by CAMRA which showed that the majority of customers agree that eating and drinking out venues need support.
The ALMR analysed a random selection of 25 local authorities across England, making up 20% of the total funding announced.
