Hundreds of NHS hospitals face higher bills due to ‘ill-conceived’ tax rises

Hundreds of hospitals, police stations and military barracks are at risk of rising property taxes after Rachel Reeves proposed an “ill-conceived” levy to subsidize Britain’s struggling high street.

Business rates shakeup unveiled by Chancellor at her first budget last week The goal of the project was to “level the playing field” for small retailers by levying higher taxes on large distribution warehouses used by companies such as Amazon.

However, tens of thousands of other large properties could also be hit by tax hikes, according to commercial real estate consultancy Altus Group.

These include 297 hospitals such as the Royal London Hospital, Bristol Southmead Hospital and the Royal Derby Hospital, as well as 310 universities and 309 colleges.

Altus said the changes would affect more than 200 government buildings, including prisons and military barracks, and even some police stations such as New Scotland Yard.

Altus said the measure would also affect the Government Treasury building on Horse Guards Road, where a new business rates policy was developed.

Alex Probyn, the group’s tax expert, said: The budget plan turned out to be “ill-conceived.”

“The government has the right to try to level the playing field, but the implications of this plan have not been properly thought through as the vast majority of the revenue that will be generated will not even come from the online giants,” he said. .

Just as households pay council tax, businesses must pay ‘rates’ on their properties every year.

As part of plans to make tax fairer for struggling brick-and-mortar retailers, the Government said it would “permanently reduce” the calculation of the tax these retail, hospitality and leisure businesses must pay if they are worth less than £500,000.

But to fund the move and soften the blow for taxpayers, properties with a rateable value above £500,000 will have to pay more business rates from 2026.

The government has said most large distribution warehouses used by online giants such as Amazon will be covered by the new tax and will help subsidize lower bills for large retailers.

A Whitehall consultation is planned on the proposal to ensure the measures do not have a “disproportionate” impact on public sector buildings.

However, Altus Group says this will lead to higher commercial rates bills for 15,278 non-residential properties, with large industrial sites also at risk of being affected.

Mr Probyn said the plan “simply does not support long-term capital investment and productivity”.

According to Altus, there are a total of 16,867 non-residential properties in England valued at £500,000 or more.

So far, the Treasury has not given a figure for how much businesses will have to pay under the new rates for 2026.

A Treasury spokesman said: “The Government is creating a fairer business rates system, which is why the reform introduces lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.

“We are committed to engaging with stakeholders to refine the plans to ensure they meet the needs of all sectors, including the public sector.”