Rate relief

• 2023/24 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief
• local newspapers
• local discounts
• partly occupied relief
• extended relief for small businesses
• small business rate relief
• relief for charities, community amateur sports clubs and other non-profit making organisations 
• rate relief for businesses in rural areas
• 2023 Supporting Small Business Relief

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme

2023/2024

At the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022 the Chancellor announced a rates relief scheme for retail, hospitality and leisure properties.

The 2023/24 Retail Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme will provide eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a 75% relief, up to a maximum cash cap of £110,000 per business.

We anticipate that relief to eligible ratepayers for 2023/24 will be applied as 2023/24 bills are issued.

Guidance on the eligibility criteria and the scheme can be found at Gov.uk: Business Rates Relief: 2023/24 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Scheme.

2022/23

The 2022/23 Retail Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme can still be awarded until 30 September 2023. The 2022/23 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme provides eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with a 50% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business.

Guidance on the eligibility criteria and the scheme can be found at Gov.uk: Business rates guidance: 2022/23 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme.

Relief for newspapers

If your office space is occupied by local newspaper publishers, you may be entitled to rate relief.

Contact us for more information.

Local discounts

We have a general power to grant discretionary local discounts. 

Contact us for more information.

Partly occupied relief

We have discretionary powers to grant relief on a property that is partly unoccupied/not fully occupied, if this is only for a 'short period of time'. Partially occupied rate relief is not intended for when part of a property is temporarily not used, it is for where there are practical difficulties in occupying or vacating all of a property.

Application for partly occupied rate relief under Section 44a (PDF, 130.1kb) .

Small business rate relief

You can get this relief if you only occupy one business property in England and that property has a rateable value (RV) of less than £15,000. The relief does not apply to empty properties.

You will get 100% relief for a property with an RV of £12,000 or less, meaning you will not pay any business rates for it. For properties with an RV of between £12,001 and £14,999, the rate of relief is awarded on a sliding scale decreasing from 100% to 0%. Here are some examples:

If you take on a second property you can still keep the relief on your original property for a year.

If you occupy more than one property, you can get small business rate relief as long as the RV of each of your other properties is less than £2,900 and the total RV of all the properties (including the main one) is less than £20,000. The relief is applied to the main property.

If your property has an RV below £51,000, your business rates will be calculated using the small business multiplier instead of the standard one. This is the case even if you have multiple properties. The higher multiplier will apply if you are liable to pay rates on an empty property or if you are in receipt of a mandatory relief. Details of the small business multiplier and how your business rates are calculated are on our What are business rates? page (under 'Non-domestic rating multiplier').

Apply for small business rate relief.

Relief for charities, community amateur sports clubs and other non-profit making organisations

Charities and registered community amateur sports clubs can be entitled to 80% relief if they occupy the property and it's mostly used for that purpose. We also have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill. Contact us for more information.

Apply rate relief for charities, community amateur sports clubs and other non-profit making organisations.

Rate relief for businesses in rural areas

Businesses in rural areas (with a population less than 3000) may be entitled to a 100% reduction if they occupy:

• the only general store, post office or food shop with a rateable value under £8,500
• the only public house or petrol station with a rateable value under £12,500

List of areas classed as rural (PDF, 91.3kb) .

Apply for rural rate relief.

2023 Supporting Small Business Relief

If your business is facing a large increase in business rates, because you can no longer claim small business or rural rate relief (due to a change in your business's rateable value at the 2023 revaluation), you may qualify for this relief. If you are eligible, you do not need to do anything as the relief will be applied as the 2023/24 bills are issued.

Contact us if you have not heard from us, and you think you are eligible.