northlincs.gov.uk

12 (12) NATIONAL NON-DOMESTIC RATE RELIEF APPLICATIONS – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report seeking consideration of the level of National Non-Domestic Rate (NNDR) discretionary relief to be awarded to eligible ratepayers in North Lincolnshire. New rate relief applications for 2017/18 were received and the recommended level of discretionary relief awarded was based on set criteria. The report presented the current level of mandatory and discretionary reliefs granted compared to the budget.

NNDR legislation made provision for granting relief to a range of non-domestic properties. That included, for example, small business relief, charitable relief and empty property relief. Some relief was mandated and must be granted; other relief was discretionary.

Under the current regime of part localisation of NNDR the council funded a proportion of both mandatory and discretionary reliefs. For the level of collection assumed in the budget the council would fund 44% of all reliefs.

The levels of all mandatory and discretionary reliefs were reported periodically to inform the cabinet member of the forecast impact on the budget.

Mandatory reliefs comprised around 97% of all reliefs by value. The forecast was that more relief would be granted than was assumed in the budget. The level of discretionary relief was currently lower than originally estimated and would remain so if the proposals in this report were approved. The details were shown at Appendix A of the report.

The ratepayers in receipt of rate relief in 2016/17 had their applications reviewed. New and existing applicants continued to return their completed forms.

The council also had a Hardship Relief scheme for cases of exceptional hardship. Cases were rare however on this occasion one application had been received.

Resolved – (a) That the level of rate relief to each applicant as set out in Appendix A of the report be awarded, and (b) that the position for 2017/18 on business rate reliefs be noted.

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