First Minister's statement on business rates: FOI Review

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

Original request 202400440104

The Scottish Government’s calculations/justifications/statistics for John Swinney making the following claim at First Minister’s Questions on 7 November 2024: Swinney: ‘On business rates, we have of course the most comprehensive small business scheme of business relief, which for the hospitality sector means in our estimations about 50% of the hospitality sector pays absolutely no business rates whatsoever'.

Response

I have completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), for FOI request 202400440104.

Your review request

Whilst, I received an adequate response justifying the second part of the sentence, I didn’t receive anything justifying or evidencing the claim that Scotland has ‘the most comprehensive small business scheme of business relief’. Contextually, this appeared to be implying it was more comprehensive than any other scheme in the rest of the UK.

Response to request for review of Original Response

Having reviewed the original FOI response, I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, but with the modification of an additional supplementary explanation in relation to the Small Business Bonus Scheme in Scotland. This explanation is set out below.

The Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) in Scotland has eligibility thresholds that provide a greater relief percentage than other equivalent scheme in the UK. Like some other schemes, the SBBS in Scotland also has a taper (a point at which an individual property will have relief diminish and then cease to be eligible), however in Scotland the taper end is a higher rateable value than anywhere else in the UK. Finally, the cumulative eligibility threshold (the combined rateable value assessment) is much higher in Scotland than elsewhere.

On this basis, the SBBS in Scotland is offered to a wider range of premises based on rateable value, and is more comprehensive. I have set out a comparison in the table below for your interest:

 

Scotland

England

Wales

Northern Ireland

Small Business 100% relief threshold for single site properties (rateable value)

£12,000

£12,000

£6,000

N/A

Small Business

<100% relief threshold (rateable value)

Tapers from 100% to 25% from £12,001 to

£15,000 and from 25% to 0% from £15,001 to

£20,000

Tapers from 100% to 0% from rateable value from £12,001 to

£15,000

Tapers from 100% to 0% for rateable value from £6,001 to

£12,000

50% relief for properties with a net annual value of £2,000 or less 

25% relief for properties with net annual value £2,001 to £5,000

20% relief for properties with net annual value from

£5,001 to £15,000

Small Business relief cumulative rateable value rules

Combined rateable value of all premises is £35,000 or less

Combined rateable value of all properties < £20,000 (£28,000 in London), and no other property has a ratable value above £2,899

Subject to a maximum of two properties per business in each local authority

Ratepayers that occupy more than three premises are not eligible for this relief.

About FOI

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Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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