More than 5,500 small business owners across the UK have written to the Chancellor calling for an urgent review of the upcoming reassessment of business rates. They warned that this risks forcing thousands of viable businesses to close permanently.
The open letter, coordinated by MP Rupert Lowe, was signed by pub landlords, cafe owners, shopkeepers and local employers who say they are already at breaking point after a decade of relentless cost pressures.
The letter, addressed directly to Rachel Reeves, calls on the Treasury to urgently reassess the impact of the reassessment on small businesses and introduce meaningful mitigation measures to prevent widespread closures of high streets and city centers.
Business owners describe having to endure years of rising rents, rising energy bills, higher insurance premiums, inflation, staffing pressures, Covid-era debts and successive tax increases. Many say they have adapted where possible, taking out loans to stay afloat, cutting their own wages and working longer hours just to survive.
They now warn that the upcoming reassessment “could be the last straw” that breaks the camel’s back.
Unlike online competitors, the signatories argue, brick-and-mortar businesses cannot forego business rates or relocate to cheaper premises. They operate from physical locations, serve local communities and employ locals – but feel like they are being punished for it.
In the letter, the owners warn that even small rate increases could lead to job losses, reduced hours, higher prices for customers or an outright closure. Many emphasize that once these companies are lost, they will not come back.
Commenting on the scale of the response, Lowe said the number of signatories continues to grow and reflects deep-rooted fear in the small business community.
“The magnitude of the response speaks for itself,” he said. “These are viable, hard-working companies that have been worn down year after year and are now being pushed too far. Business taxes punish physical presence. They punish municipal businesses.”
“If the Chancellor doesn’t act quickly, we will see permanent closures of main roads across the country. It will be apocalyptic.”
The intervention adds to growing pressure on the government to reform business rates, particularly from the hospitality and retail sectors, which are already warning that rising fixed costs are undermining investment, employment and the resilience of local economies.
