The BBPA has welcomed an announcement that the controversial ‘reasonable professional judgement’ proposal for rates appeals has been scrapped, something the BBPA had specifically asked for in its campaign on Business Rates in the run-up to the Budget.
The BBPA argued that the proposals would have deterred pubs from appealing unfair business rates, and there was a concern that ‘reasonable professional judgement’ would have meant that decreases in bills following appeals, of up to 15%, would not be paid back to businesses that had successfully appealed.
BBPA Chief Executive, Brigid Simmonds commented, “I very much welcome that the Government has listened to our concerns on this point and withdrawn this proposal.
“I completely understand the need to make the appeals system as streamlined and efficient as possible, but this should not be at the cost of fairness for pubs.
“Ratings assessments should be accurate and licensees must receive a fair hearing.”