The Federation of Small Business (FSB) has welcomed the laying of a Statutory Rule which extends Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) up to March 2018.
Northern Ireland’s largest business organisation, the FSB has been at the forefront of calling for this “vital life-support” to small businesses to be extended amidst a period of rising costs and uncertainty within the business sector.
Responding to the news, Wilfred Mitchell OBE, FSB Northern Ireland Policy Chair said: “The extension of the SBRR avoids large, unexpected increases in the rates bills of around 20,000 small businesses across Northern Ireland and, crucially, a doubling of the bills for thousands of our very smallest businesses.
“Research conducted in February by FSB NI revealed that the removal of the Relief would have led to forty per cent of small businesses being forced to reduce employees’ hours or pay, with over one in ten businesses having to close their doors. Consequently we warmly welcome the extension of the SBRR as a vital life-support to many small businesses, however, it is still only a temporary measure.
Mr Mitchell added: “We believe SBRR should be consolidated into a permanent relief, which recognises the disproportionate impact that rates bills have on our smallest businesses, on which our economy depends. Elsewhere in the UK, thousands of small businesses are exempt from paying business rates altogether and we are calling on our politicians to ensure Northern Ireland’s businesses are not put at a disadvantage to competitors elsewhere in the UK. FSB will continue to resist proposals to cherry-pick some sectors at the expense of our smallest firms in the future.”
