New valuations for business rates come into effect on 1 April 2017. Many businesses will suffer substantial increases in their rates. There is a transitional relief which phases the increases in over up to five years. The Chancellor himself has commented that this relief is complicated. It depends both on the rateable vale and the size of the increase over its previous level. And even the phased-in increases may cause hardship to some businesses.

The position is more difficult for small businesses that no longer qualify for small business rates relief, those whose properties previously had a rateable value of less than £12,000 but whose properties are now valued at £15,000 or more. For those businesses, the Chancellor has announced that increases will be limited to £600 in 2017/18. That may be a more generous relief than the transitional relief that a business would otherwise have obtained. But this will benefit only a limited category of businesses. The full level of increased rates will bite at some point. The pain may be deferred, but the pain will surely happen.

The Chancellor has said that he recognises the valuable role that local pubs play in our communities. (Don’t we all?) So he has announced that, from April 2017, pubs with a rateable value up to £100,000 will be able to claim a £1,000 business rates discount. We can drink to that! But the Chancellor has also made it clear that this discount will be for one year only.

So there are three forms of rates relief: transitional relief where rateable values have gone up; a special relief for businesses losing entitlement to small business rates relief; and a one-off relief or pubs. What if those forms of relief are not enough? The Chancellor has also announced £300m funding for local authorities which he says will allow them to provide discretionary relief to provide help to businesses most affected by the revaluation. The detail has not been announced, so it remains to be seen how much each local authority will get and how this discretionary relief will work.