Relief can be granted for eligible buildings and/or their occupier. However relief in England is handled differently to that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Different English Councils take different approaches to the application of ‘Business Rates Relief’, so understanding what is available and how to apply is a necessity.

• Covid 19 Relief
• Small Business Rates Relief – see Small Business Rates page
• Rural Rate Relief
• Charitable Relief
• Enterprise Zones
• Pub Relief
• Exempt and empty business relief – see Empty Property mitigation page
• Transitional Relief

Retail, hospitality, and leisure relief

You could qualify for retail, hospitality, and leisure relief if your business is mainly being used as a:

• shop
• restaurant, café, bar or pub
• cinema or music venue
• hospitality or leisure business – for example, a gym, a spa or a hotel

What you’ll get

If you’re eligible, you could get:

• 50% off your business rates bills for the 2022 to 2023 tax year (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023)
• 75% off your business rates bills for the 2023 to 2024 tax year (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024)

The most you can get in each tax year is £110,000 per business.

If you opt out of retail, hospitality and leisure relief for the 2022 to 2023 or 2023 to 2024 tax years you cannot change your mind.

Retail discount for the tax year 2021 to 2022

The retail discount ended on 1 April 2022. If you were eligible for the retail discount, you cannot get business rates relief under the COVID-19 additional relief fund.

You would have been eligible for the retail discount if your business was mainly being used as a:

• shop
• restaurant, café, bar or pub
• cinema or music venue
• hospitality or leisure business – for example, a gym, a spa or a hotel

Rural Rate Relief

You could qualify if your business is in a rural area with a population below 3,000. If your business is in an eligible area and is either:

• the only village shop or post office, with a rateable value of up to £8,500
• the only public house or petrol station, with a rateable value of up to £12,500

then you could benefit from paying no liability to the local authority.

Charitable Relief

Organisations that are recognised as charities for UK tax purposes can claim 80 per cent relief from the business rates if:

• The charity (or trustees of the charity) is the rate payer, and
• The charity uses the property wholly, or mainly, for charitable purposes

If the property is unoccupied, the intention must be to use it for charitable purposes.

For charity shops, the charity must use the property wholly or mainly to sell goods donated to it.  It must also use the net proceeds for the purposes of the charity.

Mandatory rate relief for community amateur sports clubs

Sports clubs, which have registered for community amateur sports club (CASC), in a similar way to registered charities and will give them 80 per cent mandatory relief if:

• The club is the rate payer, and
• The club uses the property wholly, or mainly, for purposes of the club or other registered clubs

If the property is unoccupied, the intention must be to use it for the club or other registered clubs.

Discretionary rate relief

Any organisation that qualifies for 80 per cent mandatory rate relief may also apply for discretionary relief for all or part of the remaining 20 per cent of its bill.

If an organisation is not a charity, but has been set up for religious, social welfare, artistic, educational or recreational purposes, and is not run to make a profit, then there is the possibility to benefit for up to 100 per cent discretionary rate relief.

Enterprise Zone Relief

Enterprise Zones are designated areas across England that provide tax breaks and Government support

The first 24 Zones were launched in 2012 and 24 new Zones were created in 2016 and 2017 if you are relocating to one of the areas or starting up in one then your business could benefit from

• Up to 100% business rate discount worth up to £275,000 per business over a 5-year period

OR:

• 100% enhanced capital allowances (tax relief) to businesses making large investments in plant and machinery on 8 Zones in Assisted Areas.

AND:

• Simplified local authority planning, for example, through Local Development Orders that grant automatic planning permission for certain development (such as new industrial buildings or changing how existing buildings are used) within specified areas.

Pub relief

Any Public House with a Rateable Value of £100,000 in England will benefit from £1,000 off the business rates bill.

This relief is available for the 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019 tax years.

Transitional Relief

No downwards phasing for the 2023 list, those who’s RV have decreased will benefit immediately from the reduction. The local authority issuing the bill will automatically apply transition relief to your bills – however application of certificates can reduce the baseline liability which the bills and the transition are calculated from.

Transition gradually phases the amount your bill can increase depending on your Rateable Value