Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons the Government has not raised to 100 per cent the rate of business rate relief for charities on property with a rateable value of under £12,000; and if he will take steps to ensure that charities have 100 per cent such relief.

Properties used for charitable purposes are eligible for 80 per cent mandatory business rates relief, which can be topped up to 100 per cent at the discretion of the relevant local authority. This relief is significantly more generous than small business rate relief would be for most charities, given that the latter can generally only be claimed by ratepayers with just one property.

Business rate relief for charities was worth nearly £1.9 billion in 2016-17. Overall, the Government’s support for charities and their donors, including through tax reliefs, was worth over £5 billion in 2016-17.