John Webber, head of business rates at real estate specialist Colliers, said: ‘Like many other retailers, Debenhams is seeing the negative impact of the 2017 rating revaluation, which we believe has substantially added to its costs.’

Analysing Debenham’s 178 stores in the UK, Colliers estimate the retailer has a total rateable value of around £150m which equates to an annual rates bill of over £76m for 2018/19. Some stores saw big rises in rateable value, with Westfield up 133% and Oxford Street by 57% following the revaluation in 2017.

Colliers reports the store in Westfield was paying a rates bill of £651,000 which has now ballooned to £1.3m in 2018/1, while the rates bill for the Oxford Street store has risen from £3.4m to £5.36m currently and is set to rise to £5.87 m by 2020/21.

Beyond these Debenhams outlets in premium locations, Colliers says stores in other parts of the country that should have seen a decrease in their rate bills following the revaluation are having to wait to see the benefits because of the policy of downward transition, which still has four years to run.

For example, in Cumbria, the Debenhams store saw a 37% reduction in its rateable value following the revaluation. But its rates bill only decreased from £51,191 to £46,609 in the first year and is still £41,261 this year.

In response to the growing trend for retailers to opt for CVAs which include lease restructuring and closing stores, Colliers has launched a business rates manifesto calling for an immediate freeze on any new rises and immediately removing downward phasing enabling struggling stores to pay their adjusted rates bills now.

Webber called for a total overhaul of the business rates system, a look at reliefs and reform of the appeal system.

‘The government really needs to stop fiddling on the margins and prioritise this issue higher up the agenda,’ he said.

Report by Pat Sweet