Yorkshire Budding: why its the best time to make your business dreams come true in Leeds

More people are buying and investing in small businesses in Yorkshire thanks to reduced business rates, according to an industry expert.

Since April, single independent trader businesses with a rateable value below £12,000 have received 100% relief on business rates.

Robert Williamson, from leading businesses for sale agent Ernest Wilson, said the change had encouraged more people to look at buying a small business.

“More people are interested in setting up a small business or taking over an existing business that is either on reduced business rates or exempt from them,” he said.

“A lot of our clients are considering running a smaller business as opposed to a larger one where business rates would be charged.”

Properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £15,000 now receive tapered business rate relief – leading to lower bills for many. When the changes came into force in April, the government said, as part of a £8.9 billion package of business rates cuts over the next five years, it was permanently doubling small business rates relief.

The department for communities and local government added that the changes would see 600,000 small businesses removed from paying business rates altogether.

Other measures announced in the April budget included:

£110 million to support around 16,000 small businesses losing small business rate relief or rural rate relief;

A £300 million discretionary fund for councils to support individual hard cases in their local area;

A £1,000 business rates discount for pubs with a rateable value of less than £100,000 for one year.

Speaking at the time, financial secretary to the treasury, Jane Ellison said: “We’re committed to a business tax regime that supports enterprise and allows our entrepreneurs to take advantage of new and exciting opportunities to grow and create jobs.”

Williamson said the changes had a greater impact in the north where rateable values tend to be lower than more expensive southern towns.

He believes this has led not only to more people buying small businesses but also using the money they would have spent on rates to invest back into their companies and the towns they live and work in.

“The savings made on business rates are being re-invested into the business,” he added.

On average, Ernest Wilson helps people buy and sell more than 500 small businesses in Yorkshire every year and Williamson expects this to rise even further.

He believes continued government support for small businesses is vital – not just because of the role they play in the local and national economy but also because of the choices they offer customers and their part in the community.

“Small businesses are very important especially when you are looking for something a little different or you would prefer a familiar face to deal with regularly,” he said.

Ernest Wilson, based in Leeds, is the leading agent for Businesses for Sale in the UK.

It has been established since 1956 and has successfully concluded the sales of many thousands of businesses throughout the country.

To find out more about whether it could help you buy or sell a business – whether big or small – visit www.ernest-wilson.co.uk