Question reference: S5W-36234
- Date lodged: 12 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 22 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have received non-domestic rates reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, broken down by area, and what total value of rates reduction it estimates has been received by businesses.
Answer
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government introduced an unprecedented package of business support worth over £3 billion, including 100% rates relief for properties in the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors as well as a 1.6% relief awarded to every property in Scotland, effectively introducing a poundage freeze.
The following table shows the number of properties awarded each of these relief, and the value of reliefs, by local authority area.
Further details are available in the Non-Domestic Rates Reliefs 2020 publication, available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/non-domestic-rates-relief-statistics-2020/ . As at 1 July 2020, £965m was attributable to these COVID-19 reliefs (though in some instances the COVID-19 reliefs may have displaced a previous relief).
Local Authority | Retail, Hospitality, Leisure and Airports | Universal 1.6% Relief | ||
Number | Value (£thousands) | Number | Value (£thousands) | |
Aberdeen City | 1,170 | 62,982 | 9,700 | 4,943 |
Aberdeenshire | 1,090 | 23,993 | 13,170 | 2,446 |
Angus | 430 | 8,257 | 5,350 | 661 |
Argyll & Bute | 980 | 11,012 | 9,480 | 911 |
City of Edinburgh | 4,280 | 182,213 | 22,980 | 7,719 |
Clackmannanshire | 170 | 3,785 | 1,680 | 351 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 920 | 16,975 | 10,140 | 1,175 |
Dundee City | 830 | 31,589 | 5,840 | 1,562 |
East Ayrshire | 510 | 11,068 | 4,460 | 665 |
East Dunbartonshire | 330 | 11,016 | 2,430 | 552 |
East Lothian | 320 | 7,867 | 3,780 | 667 |
East Renfrewshire | 260 | 7,329 | 1,820 | 347 |
Falkirk | 440 | 14,982 | 5,320 | 1,530 |
Fife | 1,800 | 43,524 | 14,050 | 3,453 |
Glasgow City | 3,790 | 146,480 | 27,230 | 8,197 |
Highland | 2,240 | 43,362 | 20,060 | 3,122 |
Inverclyde | 270 | 7,870 | 2,430 | 452 |
Midlothian | 450 | 14,827 | 3,040 | 718 |
Moray | 480 | 10,202 | 5,160 | 1,010 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 120 | 1,954 | 2,780 | 218 |
North Ayrshire | 650 | 14,734 | 5,350 | 932 |
North Lanarkshire | 840 | 30,752 | 10,320 | 2,406 |
Orkney Islands | 130 | 2,035 | 2,600 | 247 |
Perth & Kinross | 1,000 | 22,626 | 9,640 | 1,337 |
Renfrewshire | 710 | 43,881 | 9,900 | 2,395 |
Scottish Borders | 490 | 10,249 | 8,480 | 853 |
Shetland Islands | 100 | 2,075 | 2,370 | 507 |
South Ayrshire | 680 | 20,855 | 5,320 | 947 |
South Lanarkshire | 1,110 | 39,373 | 10,630 | 6,192 |
Stirling | 630 | 20,468 | 5,920 | 1,003 |
West Dunbartonshire | 490 | 10,926 | 2,990 | 1,535 |
West Lothian | 710 | 24,905 | 6,550 | 1,681 |
Scotland | 28,400 | 904,164 | 250,940 | 60,732 |
Data: Scottish Assessors' Valuation Roll, Local Authority billing data as at 1 July 2020.
The numbers of properties are rounded to the nearest 10.
These reliefs will have in part displaced other previously awarded relief, so the additional value to ratepayers will be lower than the figures presented above.
The relief values are the awards given as at 1 July 2020, and do not necessarily reflect the cost of a given award over the full year.
These figures include reliefs awarded to supermarkets and other businesses which have since repaid, or committed to repaying, the rates relief awarded to them in 2020-21. These repayments are made as donations to the Scottish Government and thus do not directly affect income from non-domestic rates or the values of reliefs.