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<p>Decisions on whether to grant discretionary business rates reliefs are taken by
individual local authorities, and the Government does not hold data on whether local
authorities award that relief to childcare providers.</p><p>Since Budget 2016 the
Government has introduced business rates measures in England worth £13 billion over
the next five years. This includes switching the indexation of business rates from
the retail price index to the consumer price index, representing a cut in rates to
all ratepayers, including childcare providers, worth over £6 billion over the next
five years. The Government has also doubled the threshold for 100 per cent small business
rate relief meaning that 655,000 businesses including many childcare providers now
pay no business rates at all.</p><p>The Government monitors the childcare provider
market closely through a range of research projects and plans to spend around £3.5
billion on our early education entitlements this year alone.</p>
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