The City of London Corporation is temporarily scrapping business rates for small retail, leisure and hospitality businesses.
It has announced a 100% reduction for businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of below £51,000 for 2020/21 as it looks to support firms through the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, it will provide cash grants of £3,000 to businesses with rateable values below £15,000 and will increase the planned rates discount for pubs from £1,000 to £5,000 for 2020.
The corporation also urged businesses in the Square Mile to take advantage of the package of measures announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Budget.
City of London corporation policy chair Catherine McGuinness said: “We recognise that businesses based in the Square Mile are facing difficult trading conditions as a result of the current outbreak. The chancellor rightly set out steps to support households and businesses, particularly SMEs, in the Budget earlier this week. We will contact those businesses covered by these changes and urge those facing genuine hardship to get in touch.”
Rental payments will also be made easier for smaller business tenants of the corporation.
For the March to June quarter, payments will be changed to monthly billing for directly managed premises, replacing the quarterly bills.
Tom Sleigh, chair of the property investment board at the City of London Corporation, said: “By switching to monthly billing, we are acting swiftly to help cashflow for our business tenants at these incredibly challenging times.
“By smoothing this financial obligation in the short term, we hope City businesses will be able to overcome this outbreak and continue to be a vital part of the fabric of the Square Mile long into the future.
“We aim to do all we can to assist our businesses, small and large, as they seek to weather the challenges they will face in the coming weeks and months.”
Jeremy Mayhew, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s finance committee, added: “We will continue to work with businesses based in the Square Mile to offer as much support as possible.”
The City was home to 23,890 businesses last year, of which 99% were classified as SMEs and there were around 1,000 new start-ups in the Square Mile in 2019.
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