DORSET business could be missing out on a share of £200 million in rate relief which goes unclaimed each year.

With the deadline for claiming Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) just a month away (September 30), the Forum of Private Business (FPB) is urging business-owners hit by higher rates to apply for its share of the relief.

The FSB says that some small businesses are not aware of the scheme and many business-owners are paying additional property taxes, including supplementary business rates, as part of the nationwide Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) programme, but are seeing few of the proposed benefits in return for their money.

The FPB says that small businesses which have properties with low rateable values should be contacting their local councils now to ask about Small Business Rate Relief. The average processing time for applications is two weeks.

"The Government could also do more to promote the scheme, it's interesting how, when they want money off you, they make it clear what you need to do, but when the boot is on the other foot, it's impossible to get hold of them," said the FPB's member Tim Rhodes, "On the face of it, SBRR is a good idea and it does appear to be working. However, I am sceptical about it. I am concerned that, because it was rushed in, in the future there will be additional hikes in business rates."

The SBRR scheme was introduced in April 2005 to give businesses based in properties with low rateable values the opportunity to ease the burden of their rates. However, some of the FPB's members believe that they are unfairly missing out.

Hampshire-based Ballards Brewery, which is also a member of the FPB, operates out of three buildings on the same site, one of which is rented. Although the buildings themselves are rated separately, the owner of the business, Carola Brown, misses out on SBRR because the regulations require their rateable values to be combined and are subsequently too high to qualify.

"In the current credit crunch, I could really use the money that I would have got through the rate relief scheme to invest back in my business, but instead, because of petty legislation, I am denied this opportunity," she says.

"When we decided to rent a third building, I was under the impression that rate relief would offset the rent. Each of the buildings individually would qualify, but the way the regulations are framed denies us any Small Business Rate Relief at all."

Research from the Local Government Association (LGA) suggest that fewer than half of the 870,000 small businesses across England which qualify for the scheme have applied for it.

"Eligible ratepayers must apply for the relief each year," said Nick Palin, the FPB's Finance and Administration Director. "Businesses which have not yet applied for SBRR are running out of time as the deadline for applications this year is 30 September."

He added: "The Government needs to do more to promote the scheme to help small firms, which, given the current economic climate, need support more than ever."