Factsheet: Non-Domestic Rates (Public Lavatories) Bill
Published 19 June 2019
© Crown copyright 2019
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-domestic-rates-public-lavatories-bill-policy-factsheet/factsheet-non-domestic-rates-public-lavatories-bill
1. What does this Bill do?
At Budget 2018, the Chancellor announced a mandatory business rate relief for public lavatories. The Bill delivers on this commitment and will mean that properties that consist wholly or mainly of public lavatories in England and Wales will receive a 100% relief from business rates.
2. What is the policy hoping to achieve?
The government recognises the value of public toilets as public amenities and the importance of keeping these vital facilities open. The policy will decrease the running costs of these facilities and help to make them more affordable to keep open. The relief will apply to properties that consist wholly or mainly of public lavatories in England and Wales. It will ensure that eligible public lavatories whether publicly or privately owned, free to use or those that charge for entry, will pay no business rates.
3. Why do public lavatories currently pay business rates?
All non-domestic properties are liable for non-domestic rates (otherwise known as “business rates”), unless they have been specifically exempted or otherwise removed, for instance by a statutory relief from liability. This includes public lavatories.
4. Why is legislation needed?
Mandatory business rates reliefs work by modifying how the ‘chargeable amount’ is calculated in respect of eligible hereditaments. The rules for how a ‘chargeable amount’ should be calculated are set out in primary legislation, and so legislation is needed to further modify these rules in order to create a new mandatory relief for public lavatories.
5. How do we see this working in practice?
The new relief will be administered by local billing authorities, as is the case with other reliefs.
6. When will this come into effect?
The government intends to implement the relief from April 2020 subject to its passage through Parliament.
7. Does this Bill include Wales as well as England?
The Welsh Government has worked with the UK government to ensure that standalone public lavatories in Wales will also benefit from this measure and have their rates bills reduced to zero.