In the Budget on 11 March the Government announced that ‘legislation would be brought forward’ to abolish business rates on public lavatories as from 1 April 2020. However the legislation has not yet been published and an Act of Parliament is required. At present public lavatories remain subject to business rates. We will let you know if further Government announcements are made.
The Government also announced that the ‘retail’ discount on business rates is to be extended to the leisure and hospitality industries. We are assuming that as before (for technical legal reasons) the retail discount will not extend to local councils such as those that run venues.
Finally, remember that local councils are not entitled to the National Insurance ’employment allowance’.