The Business Travel Association (BTA) has claimed the
business rates holiday introduced by the UK government to help companies
impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic is not available to TMCs and has called on
the chancellor to change the rules to allow companies to access support.
According to the BTA, its research shows that the rates
holiday, which was unveiled for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, is
being given to leisure travel agencies by not TMCs. It said it believes the
disparity is “incorrectly based on the physical location of travel agents”
since most have a high street presence that can be classified as retail outlets,
unlike TMCs.
CEO Clive Wratten said: “It is frustrating that one branch
of the travel sector is granted business rates relief based on a high street
presence whilst another is not. The global response to Covid-19 has shut down
the travel sector worldwide and TMCs face many of the same pressures as travel
agents and tour operators.”
The BTA said a poll of its members found that a business
rates holiday of one year would, on average, enable TMCs to preserve enough
additional cash to provide an extra two months’ liquidity.
Wratten has now sent a letter to Jesse Norman MP, financial
secretary to the Treasury, requesting that the rates relief is made available
for both TMCs and travel agents.
He added: “Once this crisis ends, the business travel
industry will play a vital role in the UK’s economic recovery. Business
travellers are the people who forge the deals and build the relationships which
make global trade possible, and the UK business travel industry is responsible
for over 30 million transactions generating £10 billion revenue every year.”
The BTA’s statement comes as a group of accountants called
the Corporate Finance Network warned nearly a fifth of small and medium-sized
businesses in the UK are unlikely to be able to access the cash they will need
to survive the next four weeks despite the government announcing unprecedented
support. They said many of their clients are being denied Coronavirus Business
Interruption Loans (CBILs) or are facing unfavourable terms from banks, with
others told they could have to wait up to a month to access cash from loans.
Corporate Finance Network founder Kirsty McGregor warned the
UK could see up to a million small and medium-sized businesses go under over
the next month, adding that such a situation would be “irreversible, which will
be catastrophic for the UK economy”.