Business rates reductions

You may be able to get a reduction of your Business Rates if you:

• are a small business
• are a retail business
• are a charity
• own an empty property
• are in financial hardship

Visit the GOV.UK website's guide to business rates reliefs

Where new reliefs are introduced we will advertise their availability through our business newsletter, which also contains useful content to help sustain and grow your business.

If you occupy a property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less you can apply for this relief.

To qualify your business must occupy either:

• one property with a rateable value of £15,000 or less
• one main property plus other properties, as long as those other properties have rateable values of less than £2,900

The total rateable value of all the occupied properties must be under £28,000. We’ll only apply the relief to the main property.

The amount of relief you receive will be 100% if your rateable value is £12,000 or less. If your rateable value is between £12,001 and £15,000 the relief will be applied on a sliding scale.

If your business takes on another property, which would otherwise mean the loss of small business rate relief, you’re now entitled to relief on the first property for 36 months from the date on which you occupied the new property, with effect from 1 April 2026.

The RHL Business Rates Relief scheme applies to properties that are occupied and are wholly or mainly used:

• As shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas, and live music venues
• For assembly and leisure or
• As hotels, guest and boarding premises, and self-catering accommodation. 

With effect from 1 April 2026, businesses who are currently in receipt of the 40% relief for RHL will no longer receive this relief.

The government has announced new RHL multipliers for businesses that qualify under the new legislation. 

Find out more information on the Legislation.gov.uk website 

The new multipliers are set out below:

Full details and an application form for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief

Central Government has introduced a relief for pubs and live music venues from the 2026/2027 financial year, which will reduce their business rates by an additional 15%.

The relief has been automatically granted to businesses that should qualify; however, if you believe that you do qualify and the relief has not been applied, please use the link below to make an application: 

Relief will only be awarded to those pubs which meet all the following characteristics:

• open to the public
• allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided
• allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed
• permit drinks to be purchased at a bar

The following types of businesses do not qualify:

• restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, snack bars
• hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses
• sporting venues
• festival sites, theatres, cinemas
• museums, exhibition halls
• casinos

Live music venues

Live music venues are properties that are:

• wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience

In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced that from April 2025 that 80% Mandatory Charitable Relief scheme for fee paying private schools will no longer be applicable. 

Please note the above changes will come into effect from April 2025 and this change will be reflected in your Business Rates bill for 2025/2026.

If your charity occupies a property that’s mainly used for charitable purposes, you can claim 80% off your business rates bill. This is called mandatory rate relief.

To qualify for the relief, the organisation will normally have to be registered as a charity with the Charity Commission. However, some organisations that are exempt from registration qualify for mandatory rate relief. These include:

• scout or guide groups
• voluntary-aided schools
• societies registered under the Friendly Societies Act

You don’t have to pay Business Rates on empty buildings for three months. After then, full Business Rates usually apply. Some properties can get extended empty property relief. These include:

• industrial premises (like warehouses): exempt for a further three months
• listed buildings: until they’re reoccupied
• buildings with a rateable value under £2,900: until they’re reoccupied

Get in touch to tell us when your property becomes vacant.

There are four different types of discretionary relief covered by our policy and they are as follows:

• General Discretionary Business Rate Relief: Up to 20% relief can be awarded to certain registered charities and registered sports clubs already in receipt of mandatory relief, and up to 100% relief to organisations that do not qualify for mandatory relief, but who meet the eligibility criteria stipulated.
• Hardship Relief: Intended to support businesses recovering from a temporary crisis.
• Section 44A Partially Occupied Property relief: where a business premises becomes partially unoccupied for a short period.

Our Discretionary Relief Policy and information as to how to apply for Discretionary Relief can be found on our Discretionary Rate Relief page.