Will the Cabinet Secretary engage with Prestatyn Business Forum regarding concerns over the viability of small enterprise following their protest over business rate relief cuts?
One of my officials will be attending next month’s Prestatyn Business Forum and reporting back to me.
We provide a range of permanent non-domestic rates reliefs for businesses, worth £250m a year. This includes small business rates relief, which supports ratepayers for around 70,000 properties across Wales, of which more than two-thirds pay nothing at all.
We are also providing additional non-domestic rates support worth £134m in 2024-25. This includes a fifth successive year of support for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with their rates bills, at a cost of £78m, building on the almost £1bn of support provided in rates relief to these sectors since 2020-21. Only one in five properties are liable for their full bill this year.