The Non-Domestic Rates (Liability for Unoccupied Properties) (Scotland) Bill - Equality Impact Assessment

Executive summary

This is a summary of the full Equality Impact Assessment for the Non-Domestic Rates (Liability for Unoccupied Properties) (Scotland) Bill (“the Bill”).

The policy objective of the Bill is to enable the charging of non-domestic rates (NDR) on the owners of unoccupied non-domestic property. The legal basis for this has not existed since 1 April 2023 due to errors in amendments made by section 19 of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 (“the 2020 Act”). These amendments were intended to devolve Empty Property Relief to local authorities by establishing a default position where owners were liable for NDR, subject to any reliefs that local authorities might choose to put in place, but they failed to establish that default position. This Bill is being introduced to give effect to the original policy intention and to bring the statute book into line with the position as understood by local authorities and ratepayers, and applied by local authorities, in order to ensure public finances are maintained.

This EQIA has considered the effects of the Bill on people with one or more protected characteristics. It was found that the Bill is unlikely to have a differential or adverse impact on specific groups of people or those with protected characteristics. The impact of the Bill is assessed as neutral.

Notwithstanding a lack of data on the numbers of affected properties owned by people with protected characteristics, given that this is a universal tax on non-domestic premises (in the sense all rateable non-domestic premises are liable for NDR), it can be assumed that there is generally a low risk of a policy in this area having a disparate or adverse effect, direct or indirect, on protected characteristics.