Purpose

New legislation is being brought in with
effect from 1 April 2025 removing charitable rate relief from
private schools in England who will no longer be eligible for this
relief. As this change will impact private schools, they may seek
support through other reliefs provided through business rates as
the impacts may be costly and therefore a change to the
Discretionary Rate Relief policy is being made to exclude private
schools for obtaining relief by this means.

Content

Cabinet recommends that Full Council adopts Options 1 and 3
within this report, namely:
 
Align with State Schools: Exclude private schools from
discretionary rate relief to match the new legislation effective
from 1 April 2025 removing their mandatory relief, ensuring
consistency with state schools and avoiding a cost to the Council in providing
this funding.
 
That the Director of Finance and s.151 officer be delegated
authority to make any minor future changes required to the
Discretionary Rate Relief Policy.