Thousands of businesses promised business rates relief through the £1.5bn COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) are still waiting to receive support from councils, investment firm warns.
According to the latest figures from the Government, to the end of June 2022 only £419.3m of the £1.5bn fund announced in March 2021 has been allocated to businesses, with only 82,573 properties awarded relief across England.
Of this £420m, £144.7m has been distributed to businesses in the offices sector, £112.4m to those in factories/industrial and £94m for warehousing, storage and distribution.
The relief fund aims to support businesses affected by COVID-19, outside the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, and was distributed by local authorities.
However, according to investment management company Colliers, this new fund under-estimated both the size of the problem and the capability of councils to pay out in an efficient and consistent way.
Colliers head of rating John Webber said that the fund created ‘carnage’ and a ‘postcode lottery’ because the Government allowed local authorities discretion to allocate funds rather than provide standard guidance for allocation and distribution.
Mr Webber pointed out that the system has been particularly difficult for any business with multiple sites, having to manage multiple schemes each with its own criteria, exclusions, varying evidence and information requests and deadline.
The latest figures reveal that while 258 local schemes have now been approved, only 167 of those local authorities had made any awards at all. That is just 54% of the 309 billing authorities in England.
Mr Webber said: ‘Of the 169 local authorities who do have an application process, a good number have not spent their allocation, since their application processes were either too complicated, restrictive or not well publicised enough and they are now either looking to re-launch their schemes, introduce additional application rounds or to identify and award relief to recipients based on the business rates data they hold.’
He concluded: ‘The picture is a disgrace. Fifteen months on from the time businesses were denied their right to appeal their business rates, less than one third of the allotted £1.5bn has been allocated to such businesses.
‘And time marches on. Because this relief is classed as discretionary relief, the deadline for awarding it is 30 September 2022. So, there is still an awful lot of work for many local authorities to do if businesses are not to miss out. It is a nightmare for all concerned – from local authorities to ratepayers and those who manage on their behalf.’
