Budget: What will Leicestershire councils be focusing on?

Although business rates are set nationally, it is local councils that send out bills to businesses and collect payments. There are boroughs and towns in Leicestershire and they too have their own financial constraints.

These boards also decide whether businesses are eligible for business rates relief.

Local councils keep half of the money raised and will no doubt want to retain this income.

But for business owners like Nicky Worthington, who runs the Coal Bunker Cafe in Coalville, it’s time to reduce that tax.

“Prices for businesses can be very detrimental. There’s a lot going on that people don’t see,” she said.

“People always assume that if you have your own business, you have a ton of money… but that’s not true.”

Her business also helps small independent traders provide space and display space in her café building to keep costs to a minimum.

She says VAT and energy prices are other things the government should consider when helping small businesses, especially in the hospitality sector.

“It needs to be looked at across the board,” she says.