Highlights
- Heathrow Airport in line for nearly £900m business rates discount over next three years.
- Hotels, restaurants and nightclubs excluded from additional support beyond 15 per cent bill cap.
- Industry groups criticise "crazy, distorting and broken" rates system as closures accelerate.
Heathrow Airport will benefit from approximately a fifth of the government's entire £4.3 bn "transitional relief" fund announced in the budget for businesses facing significant bill increases, according to figures compiled by property firm Avison Young and first reported by the Sunday Times.
Without government intervention, Heathrow's business rates bill would have jumped to £512 m in the upcoming fiscal year, rising to £514 m and £523 m in subsequent years, totalling £1.5 bn over three years.
Relief measures will reduce this aggregate to £650 m, representing transitional relief of £898 m.
Hospitality receives less
The total value of Heathrow's package substantially exceeds the £80 m in additional discounts offered to pubs and live music venues in England this year.
Hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and cafes received no extra support beyond transitional relief capping business rate increases at 15 per cent for most companies, or £800 for smallest businesses, as pandemic-era reliefs end and property revaluations take effect.
Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Times Industries Association representing thousands of bars, nightclubs and pubs, warned bill increases could trigger more closures.
"We have already lost over a third of the UK's nightclubs, yet the venues that remain are being charged higher business rates than ever, with fewer businesses left to carry the burden and no access to relief," he told The Guardian.
System criticised
Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality representing thousands of restaurants, hotels and pubs, told The Guardian "These figures are damning in showing how crazy, distorting and broken business rates is.
Successive governments have promised root and branch reform, these figures show it is time to deliver."
The NTIA complained the government is "explicitly excluding" nightclubs and recorded music venues from additional help offered to pubs and live music venues.
Nightclub numbers have fallen by a third since 2017, yet property value increases mean the industry collectively pays more in business rates despite fewer venues operating.
Karen Dee, chief executive of AirportsUK, noted airports' business rates will still increase by over 100 per cent, potentially forcing review of billions in transformational investments and risking thousands of jobs long-term.
