One of NDNA’s campaign objectives is to push for nurseries in England to be made exempt from business rates.
This would save settings an average of £11,000 a year and would also benefit voluntary sector providers who are currently eligible for reliefs of 80% of their business rates bills.
In 2019 NDNA submitted detailed Business Rates evidence to the Treasury Select Committee’s review of Business Rates relating to the unfairness of the application of this tax to childcare businesses. One of the recommendations of this report was a fundamental review of the Business Rates system. This was also one of our key asks in the General Election Manifesto 2019. It became a commitment for the new government and a full review was announced over the summer.
The Government review is currently being updated.
The review is broken into two areas:
- Current relief schemes – looking at the way those eligible for relief, such as small businesses, charitable organisations, etc. are currently granted support with business rates and whether this is fair and effective.
- Reform of overall system of business rates – looking at whether the whole process including: valuation , appeals rates and possible alternatives to business rates, are fair and meet the policy aims of the system of taxation.
We have submitted a sector wide response to the questions on the business rates relief scheme part of the consultation. This puts forward the need to extend reliefs to all childcare providers to ensure fairness and to support the sector. This national approach is important to support national policy and avoid a postcode lottery on support offered.