Business rates relief

 Business yet to receive rates relief

A £300m business rates relief fund is still not up and running, despite half a million companies facing higher bills since the start of April. The fund was announced by Philip Hammond in the Spring Budget, but experts claim not a “single penny” had been passed on to companies. Councils, who have been tasked with drawing up their own rules to hand out the money, are reportedly still deciding how they should distribute the funds. Separately, the Guardian looks at how the shake-up in business rates has hit Bond Street shops particularly hard. About 25 of the 100 top fashion brands with stores on Old and New Bond Street are understood to have flagged to the property market that they are ready to quit the fashion district, after their bills increased by millions of pounds in some cases.

Source:   The Daily Telegraph (26/06/2017)