EMPTY businesses premises in Northumberland have cost the taxpayer more than £12m over the last five years.

Empty shops, offices and warehouses do not have to pay business rates for three months, with the tax relief allowing landlords time to find a new occupant. But a national investigation has found the cost to the taxpayer of empty business units has risen to more than £1bn a year across England and Wales, due to the loss of income.

In Northumberland, the financial year 2018/19 saw £2,781,434 of potential business rates income lost due to the tax relief. This amounted to 2.68 per cent of the potential rates income in Northumberland being lost.

Under current legislation, around half of all business rates collected are retained by the local authority and the rest is returned to the government for redistribution. Calls have been made to change the business rates system to help traders and enable councils to have a steady income stream. It is forecast Northumberland is set to lose £2.7m again this financial year.

A Treasury spokesman said: “Empty property relief strikes a balance between incentivising property owners to put vacant properties to use, while not penalising those who lose a tenant at short notice.”