Business rate system 'not fit for purpose'

Enterprises are about to start paying a new set of business rates after the first revaluation in seven years.

It's thought that 500,000 small businesses, shops, pubs, GP surgeries and schools will be affected - some will have increases, others will see a fall.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, told Radio 4's Today programme that the system was "not fit for purpose in the 21st century".