My Erewash

We have introduced a new online portal for self service. By registering for My Erewash, you will be able to apply for help, support and advice regarding business rates. My Erewash can also be used to access a wide range of other services that the council provides, including applications for grants.

Click on the My Account button at the top of this page to set up an account, or to view your My Erewash account, if you have already created one.

Reductions

Retail Discount 2023/24

From April 2023 there is a 75% discount for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors (up to a maximum of £110,000). For further information please visit Business rates guidance: 2022/23 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Retail Discount 2022/23

From April 2022 there was a temporary 50% discount for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors (up to a maximum of £110,000) (worth £1.7bn).

Retail Discount 2021/22

Any business already in receipt of the 100% Expanded Retail Discount had this automatically renewed and reapplied from 1st April – 30th June 2021. This was replaced by a 66% discount from 1st July 2021 – 31st March 2022.

Businesses must have been trading in rateable occupation and involved in the Retail, Hospitality or Leisure industries. New businesses meeting the same conditions could also have qualified as could children’s nursery businesses. There was a cash funding cap of £2 million which applied to businesses that were required to close as at 5th January 2021. The cap was reduced to £105.000 for businesses permitted to remain open at that date, or in receipt of the Nursery Discount.

If you wish to opt out of receiving either the Expanded Retail Discount or Nursery Discount you must notify the council and advise us which eligible property is affected. If you opt out of the retail discount for the 2021 to 2022 tax year you cannot change your mind.

The most effective way of notifying us is by using your My Erewash account.

If you do not have a My Erewash account you can register using the link below.

More details are available on the GOV.UK website

Retail Discount 2020/21

Erewash Borough Council introduced a ‘business rate holiday’ for the financial year to businesses in the borough following the Government’s announcement of emergency rescue measures due to the impact of the coronavirus.

This Retail Discount was granted automatically.

The measures were announced by the government after business rate bills for 2020/21 had been issued by the council. Revised bills were issued for businesses that had been granted the exemption for 2020/21. If you did not receive the reduction and you think that you should have been entitled to it, please get in touch with us through your My Erewash account.

Additional information and guidance is available on the Gov.UK website.

Retail Discount

With effect from 1 April 2019, retail businesses with a rateable value of up to £51,000 were eligible for a reduction of up to a third of their business rates in 2019/20.

Nursery Discount

In April 2020, Erewash Borough Council introduced a ‘business rate holiday’ for the financial year to eligible nursery properties in the borough following the Government’s announcement of emergency rescue measures due to the impact of the coronavirus.

For the financial year 2020/21, any business already in receipt of the 100% reduction will have this automatically renewed and reapplied from 1st April – 30th June 2021. This will be replaced by a 66% discount from 1st July 2021 – 31st March 2022. There is a cash cap of £105.000 for businesses in receipt of the Nursery Discount.

Additional information and guidance is available on the Gov.UK website.

Changes To Business Rates From 1 April 2017

In the 2016 Autumn Statement, the Government announced the following measures for Business Rates:

Small Business Rate Relief

The Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) has changed from 50% to 100%. Thresholds are now £12,000 and £15,000 respectively. Therefore, properties with rateable values of £12,000 or below that meet the eligibility criteria will receive 100% relief and those businesses with rateable values between £12,001 and £14,999 will receive tapered relief. The taper will operate as at present – with 100% relief for eligible hereditaments with an RV of £12,000 or below, decreasing to 0% relief for hereditaments with an RV of £15,000 or above.

The threshold for the standard Business Rates multiplier has increased from a rateable value of £18,000 (£25,500 in London) to £51,000.

For those businesses that take on an additional property, which would normally have meant the loss of small business rate relief, the Government has confirmed that they will be allowed to keep that relief for a period of 12 months. From 14 February 2014, if a ratepayer is in receipt of SBRR at a qualifying main property they can take on an additional property at a later date. The original assessment will continue to benefit from SBRR, whilst full Business Rates will be charged on the secondary assessment. However, after 12 months the relief will be lost on both properties if the secondary assessment has a rateable value of £2,900 or more.

Ratepayers occupying more than one property may continue to get SBRR on the main business assessment, as long as the additional properties have a Rateable Value of less than £2,900 and the aggregate total of the Rateable Values does not exceed £20,000. The disregarded properties do not qualify for SBRR.

To renew your application for SBRR, make a new claim, or to notify us of a change in circumstances, please click on the following link (fields marked with * are mandatory fields):

Online application for Small Business Rate Relief

Rural Rate Relief

The Government have doubled rural rate relief to 100%. The Government has amended the relevant primary legislation to require local authorities to grant 100% mandatory rural rate relief.

Rate Relief on Telecom Fibre Optics

The Government will provide a new 100% Business Rates relief for new full-fibre infrastructure for a five year period from 1 April 2017 to support the rollout of new full-fibre broadband infrastructure and future 5G communications to homes and businesses.

The necessary changes to primary legislation will be introduced as soon as that is possible and it is anticipated that this will enable the relief to be backdated to April 2017. Therefore, no action is required yet by local authorities until the changes are made. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Valuation Office Agency will work with the telecoms sector and local government on implementing the relief and will publish guidance on how it will operate in due course.

2023 Revaluation and Transitional Relief

The Government has published the transitional relief scheme for the 2023 revaluation and the associated regulations. It is important to provide the greatest support to small and medium businesses seeing increases and to also allow those small and medium businesses seeing reductions to gain quickly from the revaluation.

The government will also introduce a 100% improvement relief for business rates. This will provide 12 months relief from higher bills for occupiers where eligible improvements to an existing property increase the rateable value. The government will consult on how best to implement this relief, which will take effect in 2023 and be reviewed in 2028

Supporting Small Business Rate Relief

Please click on the following link for guidance:

Supporting Small Business Rate Relief

The Supporting Small Business (SSB) scheme for 2023/24 will cap business rate bill increases at £600 per year for those businesses losing eligibility for some, or all, Small Business Rate Relief, or Rural Rate Relief, as a result of the 2023 revaluation. The property must be occupied to qualify for this Relief.

Local Newspapers

A £1,500 Business Rates discount may be granted for office space occupied by local newspapers, up to a maximum of one discount per local newspaper title for each premises and up to state aid limits, until March 2025. The relief will be delivered through local authority discretionary discount powers under section 47(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

Partly Occupied Property Relief

A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time, the local authority has discretion in certain cases to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.

Small Business Rate Relief

From 2017-18, Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) has permanently doubled from 50% to 100%. The £6,000 and £12,000 thresholds have increased to £12,000 and £15,000 respectively. Therefore, those with rateable values below £12,000 that meet the eligibility criteria will receive 100% relief and those with rateable values between £12,000 and £15,000 will receive tapered relief.

Previous applicants who failed to meet the criteria due to occupation of ‘multiple’ assessments, have had the lower multiplier automatically applied to their accounts, following a change to the legislation.

Prior to the changes from 1 April 2017, Ratepayers with rateable values below £6,000 paid no rates at all for the period, while ratepayers with rateable values between £6,000 and not more than £12,000 received tapered relief from 100% – 0%.

The legal requirement for an application form to be submitted was removed with effect from 1 April 2012.

Qualifying Criteria

This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either:

One property, or One main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value which does not exceed £2,899 (previously £2,599).
With effect from 1 April 2017, the rateable value of the one property or the aggregate rateable value of all properties must not exceed £19,999 (previously £17,999 ) outside London or £27,999 (previously £25,499) in London, on every day for which relief is being sought. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase.

Charity and Community Amateur Sports Club Relief

Charities and Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs are entitled to 80% relief where the property is occupied by the Charity or CASC and is wholly or mainly used for the charitable purposes of the charity (or of that and other charities), or for the purposes of the CASC (or of that and other CASCs).

The local authority has discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill. Full details can be obtained from the local authority. Fill out the Application Form.

Non-Profit Making Organisation Relief

The local authority has discretion to give relief to Non-Profit Making Organisations. Full details can be obtained from the local authority. The Application Form is the same as the one above under Charity and Community Amateur Sports Club Relief.

Local Discount and Hardship Relief

The local authority has discretion to give relief in special circumstances. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.

Public Toilet Relief

This was initially announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget. Properties that consist wholly or mainly of public lavatories in England and Wales will receive a 100% relief from business rates.

Rate Relief for Businesses in Rural Areas

Certain types of properties in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 may be entitled to relief. The property must be the only general store, the only post office or a food shop and have a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £12,500. The property has to be occupied.

An eligible ratepayer is entitled to 100% relief from 1st April 2017. In addition, the local authority can give discretionary relief on certain other occupied property in a rural settlement where the rateable value is less than £16,500.

Under the terms of the Local Government and Rating Act 1997, Erewash Borough Council is required to compile and maintain a Rural Settlement List for the purpose of administering the Rural Rate Relief Scheme.

Areas included in the Rural Settlement List 2023/2024:

Breadsall
Dale Abbey
Morley
Little Eaton
Risley
Stanton By Dale
Stanley and Stanley Common

The Council is required to review the Rural Settlement List on 31st December each year but it can amend the list at any time to correct any errors or omissions. If you think the list is incorrect please tell us, giving your reasons why you think this is so.

State Aid/Subsidy Control

The new domestic subsidy allowance for the COVID-19 business support grants took effect on 4 March 2021. Applications made prior to that date are subject to the previous rules.

This scheme is covered by 3 subsidy allowances:

Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance – you’re allowed up to £335,000 (subject to exchange rates) over any period of 3 years
COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance – you’re allowed up to £1,600,000
COVID-19 Business Grant Special Allowance - if you have reached your limits under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance and COVID-19 Business Grant Allowance, you may be able to access a further allowance of funding under these scheme rules of up to £9,000,000, provided certain conditions are met

Grants under these 3 allowances can be combined for a potential total allowance of up to £10,935,000 (subject to exchange rates).

Previous Rules

The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020, nonetheless under the Withdrawal Agreement the State aid rules continue to apply during a transition period, subject to regulation by the EU Commission. The Local Authority must be satisfied that all State aid requirements have been fully met and complied with when making grant payments, including, where required, compliance with all relevant conditions of the EU State aid Regulation, the EU Commission Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak, the approved Covid-19 Temporary Framework for UK Authorities, and any relevant reporting requirements to the EU Commission.

Payments made can be provided under the existing De Minimis rules, provided doing so does not exceed the €200,000 threshold1 to any one organisation over a three-year fiscal period. Payments made where the De Minimis threshold has been reached should be paid under the Covid-19 Temporary Framework for UK Authorities (threshold €800,000).

The amended Temporary Framework enables EU Member States to give up to the nominal value of €800,000 per company (€120,000 per undertaking active in the fishery and aquaculture sector or €100,000 per undertaking active in the primary production of agricultural products). This can be combined also with so-called de minimis aid (to bring the aid per company to up to €1 million) and with other specific types of aid. Any business that has reached the limits of payments permissible under the De Minimis, the UK Covid-19 Temporary State Aid Framework, and all other UK schemes under the terms of the European Commission’s Temporary Framework will not be able to receive further grant funding.

Annex B of this guidance contains two sample declarations which Local Authorities may wish to use with either payments under the De Minimis rules or under the Covid-19 Temporary Framework for UK Authorities. Where Local Authorities have further questions about De Minimis or other aspects of State aid law, they should seek advice from their legal department in the first instance.

On 13 October 2020 the European Commission announced further amendments to its State aid Temporary Framework - introducing a new measure enabling further support to companies facing a decline in turnover during the eligible period of at least 30% compared to the same period of 2019 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The support can be provided for up to 70% (90% in case of micro and small companies) of the beneficiaries' fixed costs that are not covered by their revenues or other specified sources, up to a maximum amount of EUR 3 million per undertaking.

The aid under this measure cannot be cumulated with other aid for the same eligible costs and is subject to further conditions set out in the Temporary Framework. The UK Government has notified the European Commission of its intention to use the new provision and must await approval from the European Commission to do so. The Covid-19 Temporary Framework for UK Public Authorities will need to be amended before aid under this new measure may be provided. All Local Restrictions Support Grants guidance documents will be updated to reflect the new provisions if and when they are applied to the LRSG schemes once the UK Government has approval. See announcement on the European Commission website.