The chair of an independent panel that has been reviewing business rates in Wales is calling for evidence from the country’s charities about the impact rates have on their retail division.
Professor Brian Morgan of Cardiff Metropolitan University, alongside Juliet Luporini from Swansea Business Improvement District, has been requested by Welsh business minister Edwina Hart to examine the issue of business rates for charities.
Views are being sought on the levels of relief that are currently available to voluntary organisations across all the types of non-domestic premises they occupy; whether the relief available to charities should be changed and the impact this might have; and whether relief, or further relief, should be offered to social enterprises and credit unions as an incentive to support their work.
Today's call follows the Welsh government's announcement last month that it would be consulting further on recommendations by Professor Brian Morgan in his Business Rates Wales Review.
Relief limited 'in certain circumstances'?
Charity shops currently receive 80 per cent rates relief, with the other 20 per cent at the local council’s discretion. Business Rates Wales Review: Incentivising Growth, released earlier this year, explored the concept of reducing rate relief for charity shops, capping their numbers and restricting the premises they can occupy – a proposal heavily criticised by the Charity Retail Association.
With regards to the call for evidence, Professor Morgan said that the panel will be focusing in particular on whether the relief available to charities should be limited in certain circumstances.
“This area has created significant interest and we want to hear all the views of all interested parties in order to help inform the response that will be given to the minister for business, enterprise, technology and science in the New Year,” he said.
“We also intend to provide a further opportunity for consultation and bring charities and businesses together to discuss these issues before submitting a response to the minister." Details will be published in due course, he advised.
The Welsh government is inviting responses by email or post by 19 December.
Bodies criticise 'damaging proposals'
In a joint statement, the CRA, Help the Hospices Cymru and WCVA warned that an increase in charity shop rates could seriously impact hospices and charities across Wales, and said that they hoped that Professor Morgan and the Welsh Assembly government would reject the "damaging proposals".
Quoting CRA figures which estimate that charity shops in Wales, including hospice shops, contribute over £12m every year to supporting vital services in Wales, the organisations said that: "In addition, charity and hospice shops provide around 700 jobs and 9,000 volunteering opportunities for Welsh people.
“Any reduction to the vital rate relief which charity and hospice shops receive will be a direct reduction in the amount of money they are able to put into services to Welsh communities, and the inevitable closure of charity shops will do nothing to help the high street at a time when Welsh town centres already have a vacancy rate of 15 per cent."
