• High Streets UK – a pro-growth, nationwide partnership of flagship high streets – represents over 5,000 businesses across the country, contributing £50 billion in GVA annually
• Founding members include business representatives from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, London, and Newcastle
• The group’s inaugural quarterly forum, held in Liverpool, focused on the Government’s proposed business rates reform, announced in the 2024 Autumn Budget
• High Streets UK sets out a series of recommendations for the Treasury to drive growth and protect flagship high streets from becoming unviable due to high tax burden

Liverpool, 6 March 2025 – High Streets UK, a pro-growth partnership of over 5,000 businesses across the country, released today a series of policy recommendations in response to the Government’s Business Rates Discussion Paper. The group’s asks are informed by insights from its hundreds of member businesses operating on flagship high streets nationwide.

Under the Government’s proposed business rates reform, properties with a rateable value of more than £500,000 could be subject to a business rates multiplier up to 10p higher than the current levy. This would place a disproportionate burden on physical flagship high street locations risking the viability of properties in areas like Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, and London. The upcoming 2026 revaluation adds further uncertainty, disincentivising near-term investment.

High Streets UK is calling on the Government to take urgent action to avoid unintended consequences such as store closures and job losses. Key recommendations include conducting a full impact assessment of proposed multiplier increases; freezing any hike in the higher multiplier until 2027/28 to provide greater certainty.

Dee Corsi, Chair of High Streets UK and Chief Executive of Founding Member, New West End Company, commented: “Flagship high streets are the economic and social anchors of our cities – they create jobs, drive local and national growth, and serve as vital hubs for communities. Moreover, within a high street ecosystem, it is often the larger retail, leisure and hospitality units which drive footfall and spend in smaller neighbouring businesses. If you put these larger stores at risk, the impact will be felt across the entire high street.”

“As a collective voice for these high streets, High Streets UK is calling on the Government to take urgent action to safeguard their future, ensuring our city centres remain dynamic, competitive, and resilient.”

***ENDS***

NOTES TO EDITOR

High Streets UK Business Rates Policy Recommendations to the Government:

• Produce a comprehensive, long-term impact assessment of its proposed multiplier increases on bricks-and-mortar locations, including how this could affect job growth and future investment.
  
  • This assessment should also consider the addition of commercial properties which aren’t currently captured by the existing rates system e.g. large student accommodation developments.
    
• Fix the multipliers immediately, rather than increasing them annually in line with CPI. This would provide greater certainty to businesses between revaluations.
  
  • This would require the Government to remove the principle of revenue neutrality, which does not apply to other tax bases.
    
• Freeze any increase in the higher multiplier until 2027/2028, after the 2026 revaluation, to allow businesses ample time to prepare for increases in rates liability.
  
  • Increase the higher rate multiplier threshold at the point of the 2026 revaluation, in order to avoid fiscal drag.
    
• Ensure that a portion of locally collected rates is retained and ring-fenced for investment in the corresponding flagship high street area, so those who pay the highest rates see a positive impact on services on their doorstep.
  
• Extend Empty Property Relief from 3 months to 6 months, followed by a 50% discount thereafter. This would bring the relief more in line with the average time it takes for most retail units to find a new occupier (12 – 18 months, according to the British Property Federation), and encourage property owners to divert the capital otherwise spent on business rates liabilities into upgrading their properties.
  
  • This relief should also be extended to listed buildings, of which there are a significant proportion in flagship high street locations.
    
• Build in transitional relief for businesses that would be required to pay the higher multiplier post the 2026 revaluation.

High Streets UK’s Business Rates Reform – Joint Statement

As a group, High Streets UK has welcomed the Government’s commitment – long overdue – to review and reform the complex business rates system. We are also supportive of the principle that smaller retail, leisure and hospitality businesses need a permanent reduction in rates, following the end of temporary reliefs in 2026/2027.

Current proposals, however, place too great a burden on flagship high street locations, from Birmingham and Bristol to Liverpool and London. The occupiers of city centre properties are often large retail, hospitality or leisure operators, or professional services businesses – drivers of footfall, significant employers and anchors for local communities.

An increase to the business rates multiplier for properties with a rateable value of over £500,000 runs the risk of making many of these businesses unviable, with the upcoming 2026 revaluation adding to uncertainty and disincentivising near-term investment in bricks and mortar locations.

As the representatives of over 5,000 businesses operating on flagship high streets, which collectively generate over £50 billion in GVA, we urge the Government to consider our proposed changes to its business rates proposals, which we believe would better reflect the stated objectives of protecting the high street, encouraging investment and creating a fairer system.”

About High Streets UK

High Streets UK is a pro-growth, nationwide partnership of business representatives which aims to tackle the most pressing issues facing the UK’s flagship high streets and unlock local and national growth.

Across the country, high streets face a wide range of challenges – from the rise of retail crime and anti-social behaviour to an unwieldy business rates system and rigid planning laws.

At the same time, the Government has clearly identified UK high streets as a vehicle to drive both national and local growth – and we believe that flagship high street destinations are perfectly placed to rise to the occasion.

Through quarterly summits, the group will elevate shared priorities to a national conversation, while sharing learnings, ideas and solutions to ensure flagship high streets across the UK thrive for years to come.

Founding members of High Streets UK include leading Business Improvement Districts from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, London and Newcastle.