The Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool is made up of seven authorities:
- City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
- Calderdale Council
- Harrogate Borough Council
- Kirklees Council
- Leeds City Council
- Wakefield Council
- City of York Council
The Pool is a voluntary arrangement between the member authorities made possible by the Business Rates Retention scheme which allows local authorities to retain locally a proportion of any growth in business rates income. The Pool was established on 1 April 2013 with the aim of furthering economic development activities across the region. It is funded from “levies” on business rates growth which would otherwise be paid over to central government.
The operation of the Pool is governed by a formal agreement between the seven authorities which was updated in March 2015. The Pool is led by a Joint Committee made up of the leaders of the seven authorities and is administered by Leeds City Council. The Joint Committee is responsible for making decisions about the use of levies paid in to the Pool.
To the end of 2017/18, the Pool has enabled almost £12m of business rates to be retained and invested in the region.
In 2018/19 Leeds City Region Pool are piloting 100% Business Rates Retention. This is intended to help Government to explore options for the design of future increased business rate retention. This is for one year only and allows the Pool to retain all additional growth in business rates above the business rate baselines determined by Government and associated Section 31 grants, whereas previously 50% of that growth was remitted to Government.
The Terms of Reference for the Joint Committee, the Pool Governance Arrangement, meeting papers and minutes of Joint Committee meetings are available in the
related documents section of this page.
