Title

BUSINESS

LGA calls for end to rates loophole

Councils are being forced to write off millions of pounds in unpaid business rates due to a legal loophole, town hall leaders have warned.

Councils are being forced to write off millions of pounds in unpaid business rates due to a legal loophole, town hall leaders have warned.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said some councils faced business rate debts of nearly £1.5m.

Smith Square called for councils to be given the power to suspend the licenses of businesses that ‘wilfully or persistently' fail to pay their business rates.

It also called for a change in the law to prevent companies going bankrupt, only to start again overnight with the same directors in place.

Cllr Simon Blackburn, the LGA's licensing spokesman, said: ‘The Government should close the phoenix company loophole by making it a legal requirement for directors of bankrupt companies who start up a new business to pay their old company's business rate debts.

‘Giving council powers to refuse or suspend a premises licence at an earlier stage of the debt recovery process would be a simple way to tackle this problem and protect local services.'

BUSINESS

Beyond winning and losing: leadership lessons for LGR

By Max Wide | 01 October 2025

Max Wide explores the leadership choices posed by reorganisation and reflects on how collaboration, cultural integration and private sector insights can help...

BUSINESS

AI and tech – the evolution of care

By Simon Guerrier | 22 September 2025

Simon Guerrier examines what AI and technology-enabled care are, the benefits they can bring, the risks and costs to consider, and the lessons from one local...

BUSINESS

Levelling the paying field

By Martin Ford | 17 September 2025

With a host of newly-minted unitaries set to spring up around England in the coming months and years, Martin Ford looks at the thorny issue of pay harmonisation

BUSINESS

Getting fiscal devolution right

By Luke Raikes | 28 August 2025

Luke Raikes says local tax powers can help revive the places Whitehall abandoned, and he proposes three quick wins the Government could move forward with imm...

Popular articles by Laura Sharman