Last autumn the council’s Revenues Team decided to work more closely with small businesses in the borough to ensure they received the support necessary for them to claim reliefs and discounts available to all types of smaller businesses.
As a result, 215 borough businesses have been helped and have received more than £425,000 worth of relief while the council has built a strong working relationship with them.
The pilot has proved so successful that it has been extended for a further six months. This will enable the Business Rates Visiting Officer to help new businesses that will be based in the Times Square complex, the new developments at Market Place Sutton in the north end of the High Street and other new commercial developments across the borough.
Cllr Jayne McCoy, Chair of the Housing, Economy and Business Committee at Sutton Council, said:
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our local economy. We are doing what we can to support them to grow so that they can provide more jobs and opportunities for our residents.
“An estimated 20 per cent of small businesses fail within their first year, which is why we are delighted that the business rates pilot scheme has proved so successful with new businesses in Sutton. Guiding small businesses through business rate relief is vital, especially in the initial start-up period as they seek to become established.”
Alkas Ali, owner of the Saregama Indian Restaurant in Carshalton Beeches, said:
“Sutton Council has provided a great service in helping me to secure rate relief for my restaurant business. As a small business owner this has been very helpful in these uncertain economic times and I welcome the council’s desire to assist more small local businesses in getting securely established.”