Business rates rise is high street hurricane, say Welsh companies

“Every extra cost impacts on how much profit you can make. And obviously, as much as I want to continue having bricks and mortar and a window shopfront, the running costs for online are cheaper and cheaper.

“So having business rates at a reduced cost is a massive influence to helping us locals to stay local.”

The Welsh government said it was doing “all we can, with the resources and powers available to us” to provide support to businesses.

“We provide a range of permanent non-domestic rates reliefs for businesses, worth £250m a year and fully funded by the Welsh government.

“This includes small business rates relief, which supports ratepayers for around 70,000 properties across Wales, of which more than two-thirds pay nothing at all.

“We are providing additional non-domestic rates support worth £134m in 2024-25. This includes a fifth successive year of support for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with their rates bills, at a cost of £78m, building on the almost £1bn of support provided in rates relief to these sectors since 2020-21.

“Only one in five properties are liable for their full bill this year.”