Bristol Discretionary Business Rates Relief Survey: Guidelines
These guidelines are designed to help you complete the Bristol Discretionary Rates Relief (DBRR) Survey. If you have a question which isn’t answered in the guidelines please contact Tana Holmes, Arts Development Officer at Bristol City Council 0117 9222716 (Tues, Weds & Thurs). Please complete the survey by 4pm on Friday 7th June. The survey can be completed by visiting
Context
Business Rates are charged on all commercial properties and used to pay for services provided by Bristol City Council. Local Authorities have the option to apply discretionary business rates relief to a commercial property if it is occupied by an organisation with charitable or not for profit aims. This means Bristol City Council pays the business rates rather than the occupier of the building.
Bristol City Council are currently reviewing our Discretionary Business Rates Policy. As part of this review we are carrying out an economic, cultural and social impact assessment to understand the effects of the current policy on Bristol. This survey will form a central part of the impact assessment.
The impact assessment will be used by Bristol City Council to make decisions about how we allocate discretionary rates relief in the future and in particular will feed into the review of the current policy. You will have the opportunity to comment on the options Bristol City Council are considering for the new Discretionary Business Rates Policy during a full consultation over the summer.
Guidelines to Questions
Questions printed in green on the guidelines are the only questions you need to complete if you completed the survey in Spring 2012. Please complete the survey as accurately as possible for your organisation. If you are in a building with a large number of organisations the consultants will use your answers to Q1 and Q7 to collate all the information for 1 building.
1.Name of your organisation: Please tell us the name of the organisation you represent or if you do not belong to an organisation tell us your name.
2.Did your organisation exist in the 20/12 financial year April 2011 to March 2012?
3.Type of organisation: Please tell us about the type of organisation you represent. Your organisation may fall into more than one category, please indicate which type of organisation applies to you the most and then indicate any other type of organisation which also applies.
4.Status of organisation: Please tell us about the status of the organisation you represent. Your organisation may fall into more than one category, please indicate which status applies to you the most and then indicate any other status which also applies.
5.Brief description of your project/service and main target groups: Please give us a brief overview of your organisations activity and the main groups of people who benefit from your activity.
6.How many people were in receipt of your project service between April 2011 and March 2012 or April 2012 – March 3013 if you did not exist in 2011/12: Tell us how many people made use of your projects/services during this period. You can use visitor figures, workshop registers, ticket or product sales etc to gather this information.
7.Nature of rates relief: Is your organisation a direct recipient of discretionary business rates relief or a tenant of an organisation that receives discretionary business rates relief? There is a list attached to these guidelines which lists all the buildings currently in receipt of discretionary business rates relief.
8.Apart from the current leaseholders are there any other people or organisations who indirectly benefit from the discretionary rates relief applied to the property? Please indicate who else makes use of the property. Tick as many as apply.
9.Address of the property where discretionary rates relief is currently received: Please let us know the address that appears on your business rates bill from Bristol City Council.
10.How long have you been located at this property: Please tell us how long you have been located at the address that appears on the business rates bill even if you were operating under a different name for some of the period.
11.What function does this property play for your organisation/project: Tell us about the way you use the physical space within your property. Tick as many options as apply.
12.How much of the property do you currently occupy/use regularly (give us a %): Tell us what % of the useable space within the property you get business rates for which you use on a regular (monthly or more frequently) basis.
13.Was receiving discretionary business rates relief a determining factor for setting up in the first place? Did receiving rates relief affect your decision making when you were considering setting up your organisation?
14.How many volunteers and paid staff did you employ PART TIME (less than 30 hours per week) between April 2011 and March 2012? Employees on PAYE are employees that are contracted through your organisation permanently or on a fixed term contract and receive regular payments during this time. You will make National Insurance contributions for employees on PAYE. People you employ on a freelance basis will be employed for a set period of time to complete a specific piece of work and will be paid for that piece of work. You will not make National Insurance Contributions for freelance staff. Volunteers are people who offer their skills and experience to your organisation for no financial reimbursement. Remember that if you are self employed you will be included as an employee (for the hours you are paid for) and as a volunteer (for the hours you are not paid for)
15.How many volunteers and paid staff did you employ FULL TIME (more than 30 hours per week) between April 2011 and March 2012? See guidelines for Q14
16.How much did you spend on suppliers between April 2012 and March 2013 (or in 2012/13 if you did not exist in 2011/12)? We are interested in understanding how much you spend within the economy. By suppliers we mean individuals or organisations who your organisation has purchased a product or service from. For example caterers, printers, designers, trades people, office supplies, materials etc.
17.Roughly what % of this spend was with suppliers based in Bristol? We’d like to know how much of this spend was within the Bristol economy.
18.How much did you spend on wages between April 2012 and March 2013 (or in 2012/13 if you did not exist in 2011/12)? Tell us much you spent on freelance and PAYE staff and volunteer expenses.
19.Roughly what % of this spend was with workers with a Bristol address? Tell us what % of your total wages bill was spent on employing workers who live within the city of Bristol.
20.What % of the people who access your organisations activities come from the following groups? We are interested in the types of communities indirectly supported by discretionary rates relief. You can use data or provide estimates.
21.Were the answers to Question 20 mostly based on data or estimates? You can tick both boxes if you used a combination of data and estimates.
22.We would like to get an idea of the scope of your service. Please detail the areas in which you deliver. Please tick as many areas as apply to your organisation.
23.Please estimate the number of NEW products your organisation produced between April 2012 and March 2014. New products can include shows, workshops, training courses, workshops, stage/set designs, pieces of writing, pieces of music, original designs
24.Where did the people who used these products live? Please provide rough percentages.
25.What benefits does your organisation bring to your local community or to Bristol as a whole? Please tick as many boxes as apply.
26.How many public events did your organisation hold between April 2011 and March 2012 (or in 2012/13 if you did not exist in 2011/12)? Public events can include anything where the public are invited to come along e.g. exhibitions, talks, workshops, shows, performances, festivals, open days, film screenings.
27.Please provide the names of these events, the dates when they took place, audience and participant numbers. Audience are the people who visited the event participants are people who were involved with the event as workshop leaders, stallholders, organisers, fundraisers, performers etc.
28.We are interested in whether discretionary rates relief plays a role in the project/service being able to attract other funding resources and therefore investment into the city. Please provide your total revenue from April 2011 to March 2012 (or in 2012/13 if you did not exist in 2011/12)?
29.Please list any funding you attracted between April 2011 and March 2012 (or in 2012/13 if you did not exist in 2011/12). Pease provide the name of each funder, the amount of funding you were granted and the purpose for the funding.
30.If you are a registered charity: How do you think your organisation/project would be affected if you no longer received the 20% ‘top up’ discretionary rates relief? We’d like to understand what level of rates relief organisations need so we can make the budget go further in the future. Please be honest about the level of rates relief you need.
31.If you are not a registered charity:How do you think your organisation/project would be affected if the relief was reduced in the ways listed? Please see guidelines for Q30.
32.Please provide any additional comments here we are particularly interested in explaining your responses to Q 30 and 31. Please use this space to tell us anything about your organisation that hasn’t been covered in the survey which you feel could be useful for the social, economic and cultural impact assessment.