EIGHT WEEKS TO SAVE THE NATION’S HIGH STREETS
• 54,6381 businesses across England and Wales are currently unable to access the £25,000 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant [RHLG] according the #RaiseTheBar campaign
• ‘Discretionary fund’ to Local Authorities falls short of £748m to help businesses in need. #RaiseTheBar has calculated a total of £1.365bn is needed to support all 54,638 businesses in need2
• High Street businesses face eight-week countdown until due date for quarterly rent on 24 June, meaning action is needed now to allow more businesses access to the RHLG grant
• 86 MPs sign letter to the Chancellor calling for the rateable value threshold to be increased for the RHLG grant3
• Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP has raised the #RaiseTheBar ask to the Treasury following local concern in Esher and Walton
• Visit www.raisethebarcampaign.com for more information
UK High Streets are on the brink of collapse as the eight-week countdown to the next quarterly rent instalment begins today, according to the #RaiseTheBar campaign.
As part of the RHLG guidance, only those in the retail, hospitality, leisure and assembly sectors with a business rates value of up to £51,000 can access the vital grant, leaving tens of thousands of businesses stranded. The #RaiseTheBar
campaign, launched on 21 April 2020, is calling on the Government to raise the arbitrary £51,000 business rates threshold cap to £150,000, allowing over 54,638 businesses in these sectors the chance to survive.
The campaign has secured cross-party support including:
• 86 Conservative MPs wrote to the Chancellor on Friday 1 May, in an open letter calling for the business rates threshold to be increased
• The Shadow Chancellor Rt. Hon. Anneliese Dodds MP has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rt. Hon. Rishi Sunak MP, to bring to his attention the #RaiseTheBar campaign and the urgent need to raise the threshold above £51,000 due to businesses operating in high-cost areas
• Rt. Hon. Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, committed to discuss the need to increase the business rates threshold with the Chancellor following a question from The Sheffield Star in the daily Government briefing on Monday 27 April
• Rt. Hon. Lucy Powell MP for Manchester Central called for the business rates threshold to be increased in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 22 April
• Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP for Esher and Walton has passed the request onto the Treasury following local concern
The #RaiseTheBar campaign believes access to the £25,000 is the difference between survival and bankruptcy for businesses on High Streets across England and Wales, which have welcomed an outpouring of support from the public during
lockdown choosing to support their local communities.
The grant will enable businesses to mitigate significant stock losses and cashflow challenges, including rent, that wage subsidies do not address. Many businesses are, not in a position to take on further debt or have serious misgivings about being able to survive the recovery and service loans. Other cash pressures include suppliers, service charges and the cost of re-opening to repurchase stock and ongoing running costs.
Matthew Sims, CEO, Croydon BID and co-founder of #RaiseTheBar campaign said,“Access to the RHLG grant is a ticking time bomb for tens of thousands of businesseson our High Streets and in our local communities. There are just eight weeks until rent is due and the prospect of going under is an uncomfortable truth the Government needs to hear and act upon now. The consequences of failing to increase the business rates threshold are too grim to bear.”
Gavin Stewart, CEO of Brilliant Brighton, Brighton's Business Improvement Distrcit said, "We are really behind this national campaign to support those businesses which fall outside the current government crietria. Many Brighton & Hove based businesses with rateable values above £51k are still effeftively small businesses and are facing just the same issues as those below the £51k threshold. Supoprt needs to be provided now, before many of our much loved insitiutions are forced to close their doors for good."