The government has been ‘inundated’ with letters from small firms demanding changes to the business rate system, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
The FPB claimed it has received strong backing for its Small Business Rates Relief campaign, which has called for a fairer rates system for smaller firms.
After a meeting with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the FPB said that over 200 letters had been received from aggrieved entrepreneurs who feel that current threshold levels for rate relief penalise more businesses than they help.
The business lobby said that the threshold for relief should be raised for small firms, claiming support from MPs, business owners and the Liberal Democrat party.
Nick Goulding, FPB chief executive, said that support for the campaign was gaining momentum.
“We have been campaigning long and hard for the government to sit up and take notice of the fact that the current proposals for the scheme won’t be of any assistance to the- majority of small businesses.
“Our alternative proposals call for relief to be distributed to all businesses on a ‘sliding scale’ with a rateable value (RV) below £25,000 and for the ‘surcharge level’ to be raised to an RV of above £40,000 per annum.
“We believe that if the government made these changes the whole scheme would be fairer and many more businesses would get at least some relief.
“The fact that the Liberal Democrats and other representative organisations are asking the government to look again at the proposals suggests that FPB’s campaign has hit the right note in drawing attention to a scheme that is badly targeted, ill thought-out and likely to punish than assist the majority of the UK’s small businesses,” he said.
