UKHospitality: business rates relief welcome but thousands will miss out

UKHospitality has welcomed the introduction of business rates relief for hospitality venues in Scotland but warned thousands of operators will miss out on support.

The Scottish Government said it will introduce 40% rates relief for venues paying the Basic Property Rate in 2025-2026, meaning businesses with a rateable value of up to £51,000 will be eligible.

However, 2,600 Scottish hospitality businesses will not qualify for the discount.

These operators will also face increased employer National Insurance contributions from the wider UK budget in 2025 and an inflationary increase to the intermediate and higher property rates, announced yesterday in the Scottish budget.

Leon Thompson, executive director for UKHospitality Scotland, said these businesses faced a “double-whammy” of costs.

“This will seriously threaten their ability to support jobs and we have to recognise that these businesses employ more than half of Scotland’s hospitality workforce,” said Thompson.

“Hospitality’s ability to provide jobs for everyone is one of our impactful contributions to Scotland and I am concerned about the unintended consequences those tax rises will have on the ability of those unsupported businesses to support employment.

“I’m grateful that the Scottish Government has acted to introduce relief, and I look forward to continuing discussions with them throughout this budget process, including on how we can ensure major employers in hospitality are supported.”