In October 2024, the Government published a discussion paper on ‘Transforming Business Rates’. The purpose of the paper is to invite business and other stakeholders to a conversation about how the government can deliver its ambitions. However, it seems like the government’s ambitions for rates are more evolution than transformation, but as rates relief is worth more to charities than Gift Aid, it is essential that CTG and charities engage on any changes that do emerge. CTG were invited to a roundtable discussion with HM Treasury in January. We are very grateful to Zoe Bushell from the National Trust who attended on our behalf.

At that meeting, HMT responded to our main concern which was that the consultation is silent on charities by confirming that there was no intention to disrupt the current charity reliefs.

The majority of the meeting focused on the detail of multipliers and valuation frequencies, and achieving the delicate balance of meeting the [conflicting] needs of businesses for responsiveness to changes in market conditions and a desire for certainty.

The consultation also gives a timeline of 2028 for digitalisation of business rates (DBR). Charities which operate nationally have a heavy administrative burden dealing with local authorities each of which has its own processes for validating claims, frequency of renewal, and evidence required to demonstrate charitable status. DBR offers a one-off opportunity to homogenise the processes of individual local authorities for administering charitable reliefs and having a simpler process to verify eligibility. Doing this would bring about savings for councils and charities, and so we are hopeful that the government will implement this improvement.

CTG has drafted a response to the consultation which closes in March and would encourage our members to do so too.