Zuletzt aktualisiert am 17. July 2026
Business rates relief reduces or removes the non-domestic property tax owed by eligible UK businesses. In 2026/27, Small Business Rate Relief gives 100% relief on properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, alongside new lower retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers introduced from 1 April 2026.
Business rates relief lowers the tax charged on commercial property in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England for 2026/27, properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or less pay nothing under Small Business Rate Relief, and values of £12,001 to £14,999 receive tapered relief. The 40% retail, hospitality and leisure discount was replaced on 1 April 2026 by two permanently lower multipliers of 43.0p and 38.2p. Charities claim 80% relief. Applications go to the local council. (Reviewed July 2026.)
What is business rates relief in the UK?
Business rates relief is a reduction on non-domestic rates, the tax charged on most commercial property in the UK. Relief lowers a bill calculated by multiplying a property’s rateable value, set by the Valuation Office Agency, by an annual multiplier.
The rateable value is the Valuation Office Agency’s estimate of a property’s open-market annual rent at a fixed valuation date. The multiplier is the pence-in-the-pound figure set each year by central government. For 2026/27 in England, effective 1 April 2026, the standard multiplier is 48.0p and the small business multiplier is 43.2p (gov.uk, 2026). Multiplying rateable value by the relevant multiplier produces the gross annual bill before any relief.
Relief schemes reduce that gross bill for defined categories of ratepayer, including small businesses, charities, rural traders and the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. Business rates are devolved, so Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run separate schemes with their own thresholds. The figures below focus on England unless stated otherwise.
Who qualifies for Small Business Rate Relief in 2026/27?
Small Business Rate Relief applies in England to businesses using a single property with a rateable value below £15,000. Properties valued at £12,000 or less receive 100% relief, and values from £12,001 to £14,999 receive relief on a sliding scale.
The taper works in even steps: a property with a rateable value of £13,500 receives roughly 50% relief, and £14,250 receives about 25%. A business generally keeps Small Business Rate Relief while using one property, though a property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000 still benefits from the lower small business multiplier of 43.2p rather than the 48.0p standard multiplier (gov.uk, 2026).
Devolved schemes run in parallel. Scotland offers the Small Business Bonus Scheme, Wales runs its own small business rates relief, and Northern Ireland applies Small Business Rate Relief through Land & Property Services. Each administration sets separate rateable-value bands and multipliers, so a business trading across borders confirms figures with the relevant national body rather than assuming the England thresholds apply.
Second-property rules were extended in the 2025 Budget. A business that took on an additional property before 27 November 2025 keeps relief on its main property for 12 months; a business that took on an additional property on or after 27 November 2025 keeps relief for 36 months. Beyond those windows, relief continues only where no other property has a rateable value above £2,899 and the total across all properties stays below £20,000, or £28,000 in London.
The costliest mistake in Small Business Rate Relief is the second-property trap. Take on a second unit above £2,899 rateable value and the clock starts on your main-property relief. Many owners assume the relief is permanent, then face a full bill once the 12 or 36-month grace period ends. Before signing a second lease, model the combined bill using the £20,000 total-value ceiling (£28,000 in London), because crossing it removes relief entirely rather than tapering it.
How does retail, hospitality and leisure relief work from April 2026?
From 1 April 2026, England replaced the 40% retail, hospitality and leisure discount with two permanently lower multipliers. Qualifying properties with a rateable value below £500,000 pay 43.0p (standard) or 38.2p (small business) instead of the national multipliers.
Through 2025/26, retail, hospitality and leisure businesses claimed a 40% discount capped at £110,000 per business, which had to be reapplied for each year. The government replaced that temporary discount with the two lower retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers, described as a permanent tax cut worth nearly £1 billion a year benefiting more than 750,000 properties (gov.uk, 2026). The lower rates sit 5p below their national equivalents and require no annual claim.
Pubs and live music venues receive a further 15% relief in 2026/27 on top of the lower multipliers, with their bills frozen in real terms for 2027/28 and 2028/29. The cut is funded by a higher multiplier on the largest properties, those with a rateable value of £500,000 or more, which fall outside the retail, hospitality and leisure rates and pay the high-value multiplier instead.
What relief can charities and rural businesses claim?
Registered charities and community amateur sports clubs claim 80% mandatory relief on property used mainly for charitable purposes. Rural businesses that are the sole shop, post office, pub or petrol station in a qualifying settlement claim 100% rural rate relief.
Charitable relief is mandatory, so the local council must grant 80% once a charity or registered community amateur sports club uses the property for its charitable aims. Councils hold discretion to top the remaining 20% up to full relief. Rural rate relief covers the last general store or post office where the rateable value is below a set limit, the only public house or petrol station below a higher limit, and other sole services a council chooses to support in a settlement with a population under 3,000.
Empty commercial property attracts no rates for the first three months, extended to six months for industrial premises, after which the full charge usually resumes. Listed buildings and properties with a rateable value below a small threshold can stay exempt for longer while empty.
How do you apply for business rates relief?
Applications go through the local billing authority, not central government. The 4-Step Relief Claim Method covers checking the rateable value, identifying the correct scheme, submitting the council’s form, and reporting any change that affects eligibility.
The 4-Step Relief Claim Method breaks the process into repeatable stages:
- Verify the rateable value on the Valuation Office Agency website and challenge it there if the figure looks wrong.
- Identify the scheme that fits the property, such as Small Business Rate Relief, retail, hospitality and leisure relief, charitable relief or rural rate relief.
- Submit the council’s form, available on the local authority website, with accurate details of the business and its property use.
- Report changes such as a second property, a change of use or a move, because unreported changes cause backdated bills.
Some reliefs, including retail, hospitality and leisure relief before 2026, applied automatically to bills, while others require a signed form. A ratepayer who disputes the rateable value uses the Valuation Office Agency’s Check, Challenge, Appeal service rather than the council.
Business rates rules changed on 1 April 2026 with a revaluation and new multipliers. Figures here are accurate as of July 2026. Confirm your exact bill with your local council, because discretionary reliefs and transitional caps vary by authority and by property.
How do local councils, enterprise zones and freeports add extra relief?
Local councils hold discretionary powers to reduce bills beyond the national schemes, while enterprise zones and freeports offer targeted rates savings. Each route depends on the property’s location and the council’s local economic priorities.
Discretionary relief lets a council cut rates where a business delivers community benefit or supports local jobs, often in retail, hospitality or leisure. Enterprise zones offer business rates discounts of up to 100% for five years, capped per business under subsidy rules, to attract investment into designated sites. Freeports, the customs and tax sites created across the UK, provide full business rates relief on qualifying new or expanded premises within the zone for a defined period, alongside customs and other tax benefits.
What changes should businesses prepare for after the 2026 revaluation?
The 2026 revaluation reset every rateable value in England from 1 April 2026, based on rental values at 1 April 2024. Transitional relief caps the largest increases, and Supporting Small Business relief protects ratepayers who lose Small Business Rate Relief at revaluation.
Revaluations keep rateable values in step with the property market, and the 2026 list is the first to sit alongside the permanent retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers. Transitional relief phases in bill increases over the life of the list so no ratepayer faces the full rise at once. The 2026 Supporting Small Business scheme limits year-on-year increases for businesses that lost some or all Small Business Rate Relief because their rateable value rose (gov.uk, 2026).
Businesses above the £500,000 threshold pay the high-value multiplier that funds the retail, hospitality and leisure cut, so large occupiers face higher bills than smaller premises. A three-yearly revaluation cycle now applies, which means the next reset is due in 2029.
Our Take
Most guides still describe the 40% retail, hospitality and leisure discount as if it were current. It is not. From 1 April 2026 that temporary discount became two permanent lower multipliers, and the practical effect is bigger than the headline suggests. A permanent 5p cut removes the annual reapplication scramble and the £110,000 cap, but it also ends the years of one-off top-ups that shielded high-street tenants. The businesses that gain most are small units under £51,000 rateable value stacking the small business multiplier with Small Business Rate Relief. The ones that lose are large occupiers funding the change through the high-value multiplier. Treat 2026 as a structural reset, not another year of stopgap discounts, and rebuild your budget around the multiplier that now applies to your property.
- Rateable value of £12,000 or less means 100% Small Business Rate Relief; £12,001 to £14,999 tapers to zero.
- 2026/27 England multipliers: 48.0p standard, 43.2p small business, effective 1 April 2026.
- Retail, hospitality and leisure properties below £500,000 now pay 43.0p or 38.2p, replacing the 40% discount.
- Charities receive 80% mandatory relief; rural sole traders and enterprise-zone or freeport sites can reach 100%.
- Second-property relief runs for 12 or 36 months depending on whether it was acquired before or after 27 November 2025.
- Apply through your local council and check the rateable value with the Valuation Office Agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
What rateable value gets 100% business rates relief in 2026/27?
A property in England with a rateable value of £12,000 or less pays no business rates under Small Business Rate Relief, provided it is the only property the business uses. Values from £12,001 to £14,999 receive tapered relief down to zero.
Has the 40% retail, hospitality and leisure relief ended?
Yes. From 1 April 2026 the 40% discount was replaced by two permanently lower multipliers of 43.0p and 38.2p for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value below £500,000. No annual reapplication is needed.
What are the business rates multipliers for 2026/27?
In England the standard multiplier is 48.0p and the small business multiplier is 43.2p. The retail, hospitality and leisure standard multiplier is 43.0p and the small business version is 38.2p, all effective from 1 April 2026.
How much relief can a charity claim on business rates?
Registered charities and community amateur sports clubs receive 80% mandatory relief on property used mainly for charitable purposes. Local councils may grant discretionary relief on the remaining 20%, bringing the total up to 100%.
How do I apply for business rates relief?
Contact your local billing authority, check the rateable value on the Valuation Office Agency website, complete the council’s relief form, and report any change such as a second property. Some reliefs apply automatically, while others need a signed form.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Business rates relief: Small business rate relief (as of July 2026)
- GOV.UK — Notification of Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers for 2026/27 (2/2026) (as of July 2026)
- GOV.UK — Business Rates Multipliers: Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure (as of July 2026)
- GOV.UK — Business Rates Relief: 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief, local authority guidance (as of July 2026)
- Valuation Office Agency — Check and challenge your business rates valuation
