The Chancellor’s budget promises to reduce our towns and cities to Covid levels of decline
As the Chancellor edges closer to an overhaul of business rates we risk undoing years of hard-won recovery bringing businesses and workers back to the office.
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The policy would inflict a catastrophic effect on entrepreneurial potential of the UK’s cities and towns, as well as reversing years of progress made since the pandemic and returning urban centres to the deserted days of Covid.
One of the proposed changes threatens to remove vacant-office relief. This would punish the operators who provide these flexible spaces. It means that office providers would no longer be able to claim temporary rates relief to manage the transition before a new tenant moves in and result in spiralling costs.
The current format enables operators to adapt quickly to the changing needs of the economy and keeps high-quality workspace available for London’s entrepreneurs – and it works.
Stripping the vacant rates relief is one of the many changes being proposed by the Chancellor that would cripple the flexible office system that we know helps start-ups survive. Operators will have no choice but to pass on the spiralling costs to tenants. Promising start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs would be priced out of the high-quality working environments that they need to thrive, instead forcing them either into substandard premises or back to isolation at home.
We have already witnessed what this means during the pandemic – empty offices equal empty high streets. A closure of hospitality and retail businesses which rely on the buzz and footfall of workers would be inevitable and our city centres would once again fall silent.
We also know that remote working takes a heavy toll on well-being. A recent survey by the Bupa Wellbeing Index revealed that 40% of ‘Gen Z’ employees say that they feel lonely or isolated due to limited co-worker interactions. If we remove affordable, flexible office spaces, we will deprive young people of the community, mentorship and training opportunities that are critical for their professional and personal development.
The Chancellor must urgently rethink this policy and change her course on business rates. If she does not, she will be hammering in the last nail of the coffin for businesses, urban neighbourhoods and the people who keep them alive.
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Niki Fuchs is Co-Founder of leading UK flexible office provider Office Space in Town (OSiT).
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