This Order, made under sections 43(4B)(b) and 44(9)(b) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (“the 1988 Act”), amends the Non-Domestic Rating (Small Business Relief) (Wales) Order 2017 (S.I. 2017/1229 (W. 293)) (“the 2017 Order”). The 2017 Order provides for a non-domestic rate relief scheme (“the scheme”) which applies to certain categories of hereditament.

The effect of the amendments made by this Order is to exempt all hereditaments meeting the conditions (“the child care conditions”) set out in article 8 of the 2017 Order from the payment of non-domestic rates.

Article 5 of the 2017 Order is amended to increase to £100,000 the maximum rateable value of hereditaments meeting the child care conditions. This means that all hereditaments with a rateable value of £100,000 or less, which meet the childcare conditions, are eligible for relief under the scheme. This Order also preserves the existing maximum rateable value (of £12,000) in relation to hereditaments meeting the rateable value conditions in article 7 and the post office conditions in article 9.

The Welsh Ministers may prescribe E for the purposes of the 1988 Act. This Order amends E to 5,000,000 for all hereditaments which meet the child care conditions. This, when inserted to the formula within section 43(4A)(b) of the 1988 Act, has the effect of exempting all hereditaments meeting the child care conditions from the payment of non-domestic rates. Article 11(4) of the 2017 Order is omitted, which has the effect of removing the previous tapered relief scheme for hereditaments meeting the child care conditions.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to this Order. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with this Order. A copy can be obtained from the Local Government Strategic Finance Division, Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.