Business rates reliefs and exemptions

Mandatory Rural Rate Relief is for specific businesses in rural settlements which have a population of less than 3000 people. Our rural settlement list is published in December each year.

View our District's Designated Rural Settlements list 2024-2025 [PDF, 1MB]

To qualify the property must be:

• the only food shop, general store or post office in a settlement with a rateable value that does not exceed £8,500; or
• the only petrol filling station or pub in a settlement with a rateable value that does not exceed £12,500.

From 1 April 2024, 100% of this relief will be statutory for certain types of properties in a rural settlement, with a population below 3,000 may be entitled to full relief. The property must be the only general store, the only post office or a food shop and have a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £12,500. The property must be occupied.

Full details can be obtained from the local authority.

Please note, ‘food shop' means a trade or business consisting wholly or mainly for the retail sale of food for human consumption, not including confectionery and catering. In this context catering means any supply of food for consumption on the premises and any supply of hot food for consumption off the premises.

Apply for rural rate relief

Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) can receive 80% Rate Relief.

To qualify as a CASC, a sports club must:

• be open to the whole community
• be run as an amateur club
• be a non-profit-making organisation
• aim to provide facilities for, and encourage people to take part in, eligible sport.

If you are a sports club which has not yet registered as a CASC and are interested in the registration process, please visit the Inland Revenue Sports club site or call the Inland Revenue Sports Clubs Unit on 0300 123 1073.

Apply for mandatory relief

Registered Charities can be given 80% relief from Business Rates, on any Non-Domestic property that is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

Apply if you are a registered charity

Small Business Rate Relief may be available if a Ratepayer’s property has a rateable value of less than £15,000.

This applies to an individual, organisation, trust, partnership, or other types of businesses.

This rate relief applies if:

• you are a single business property in England which has a rateable value of less than £15,000; or
• if you have one main property in England with a rateable value (RV) of less than £15,000 and other additional properties, provided that those properties have RV's of less than £2,899. 

The total RV of all properties have to be under £20,000. The relief will be eligible for relief on the main property only.

• you get a second property, which would normally take you out of the eligibility criteria for this relief. You’ll keep getting any existing relief on your main property for 12 months from the date of occupation of the additional property.

You can still get small business rate relief on your main property only after this if both the following apply:

• none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
• the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £20,000

Ratepayers occupying only one property in England, where the rateable value is above £14,999 but below £51,000, are not entitled to relief. However, the small business rate multiplier will automatically be used to calculate their charge.

Ratepayers can only claim relief for one property, which must be occupied.

Properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £14,999 are entitled to relief, which is on a sliding scale. The relief reduces by 1% for every £30 of Rateable Value, from £12,000 (100%) to £15,000 (0%).

If you receive a Small Business Rate Relief and your rateable value increases to more than £14,999 because of a change to your rating, then the Small Business Rate Relief is cancelled from the date of the change.

If you are receiving a Small Business Rate Relief and there is a change in your circumstances, you must let us know within 4 weeks of the change happening. The changes you must notify us of are:

• use of an additional property (relief will continue for 12 months after taking on an additional property which has a rateable value that meets the existing relief criteria)
• an increase in the rateable value of a property, which is being occupied in an area other than where we granted the relief.

Apply for a small business rate relief

In 2021 the Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill came into force which gives public lavatories 100% relief from Business Rates. The relief will not apply to toilets which are part of a larger business unit, for example, toilets in public libraries. This bill has been applied retrospectively from 1 April 2020.

Read more information on this relief

Apply for a public lavatory relief

Registered Charities are entitled to relief from rates on any Non-Domestic property that is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. Relief is given at 80% of the bill. Local councils have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Apply for discretionary relief

A not-for-profit organisation is one that is not made or used for profit, and are charitable, but the organisation itself is not registered as a charity.

We have the discretion to provide relief if:

• the organisation has a positive and measurable impact on its’ local community
• the organisation is easy to access for members of the community in the district, and how much the service is used by the community will also be considered
• facilities are being provided, that would otherwise not be available to the local community
• training or education is provided by and for the organisation, to residents or members of the organisation.

For full information on this relief see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Apply for discretionary relief

Hardship Relief is available to business in specific exceptional circumstances. You may be able to receive this relief if your business is suffering from unexpected hardship, which is outside of normal risks associated with the business.

Hardship Relief can be granted at our discretion if:

• you would be in financial difficulties without it
• giving Hardship Relief to you is in the interests of local people

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Contact us to apply

A ratepayer is responsible for the full Non-Domestic Rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. If a property is partly occupied for a short period, we have discretion in certain limited cases to award relief for the unoccupied part.

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Contact us to apply

CASC’s are entitled to 80% mandatory relief. We have discretion to consider giving up to an additional 20% in Discretionary Top-Up Relief.

If an amateur sports club is not a registered charity or a CASC, we would encourage the organisation to submit an application to either HMRC for CASC status or to the Charity Commission for charitable status. If you don’t have either of these statuses, it will not prevent your application from being considered.

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Apply for a discretionary rate relief

Local newspapers are entitled to relief if their property is used as office premises for journalists and reporters on a local newspaper. The relief is a £1,500 reduction in business rates for eligible properties per year.

You can only get the relief for one property per newspaper even if more than one property is used as offices for the newspaper. If several local newspapers use the same office, they can only get the relief on one newspaper title.

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Contact us to apply

You could qualify for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief if your business is completely or 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.

If you’re eligible, you could get 75% off your Business Rates bills.

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.

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB] [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

The deadline for applications for the 2023/2024 liability year was 30 September 2024. Applications received after this date will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

In the Autumn 2024 Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme will be extended for one year for 2025/26, retaining the existing eligibility criteria but reducing the level of relief to 40%, up to a cap of £110,000 per business.

Apply for business rates relief

Section 69 of the Localism Act 2011 allows Local Authorities to award rate relief to all types of business, at their discretion.

This relief is fully funded by the local authority, so applications will only be considered for funding if they result in real benefits for local residents, like potential for further investments and jobs.

For full information on these reliefs see our Discretionary Business Rate Relief Policy. [PDF, 0.2MB]

You can also read the Discretionary Business Rate Relief Guidelines. [PDF, 0.2MB]

Contact us to apply

At the 2022 Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced that the 2023 Supporting Small Business (SSB) scheme will cap bill increases at £600 per year for any business losing eligibility for some or all Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief at the 2023 revaluation.

The scheme will run from 1 April 2023 until the 31 March 2026. Eligible ratepayers will remain in the scheme for either 3 years or until they reach the bill they would have paid without the scheme. The scheme ends on 31 March 2026.

You do not need to apply, this relief will be automatically applied to relevant bills.