Bills & Reliefs for 2023-24

Update March 2023: The annual bills have been updated and sent on 13 March 2023.

At Autumn Statement 2022 the Chancellor announced:

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

Small Business (SSB) relief scheme which will cap bill increases at £600 per year for any business losing eligibility for Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief at the 2023 revaluation

2023 Transitional Relief regulations The regulations to implement the Transitional Relief scheme for the 2023 revaluation have been debated and approved by both Houses of Parliament, and will come into force on 22nd December. The structure and format of the Transitional Relief scheme only differs from the 2017 scheme in that there is no downward transition and, of course, the caps are different.

Multiplier Freeze: the small business multiplier (49.9p) and the standard multiplier (51.2p) remain the same for the 2023-24 year

 

About relief and exemptions

Occupied premises

Occupied premises may be eligible for certain reliefs. The reliefs available for occupied premises include:

Mandatory Rate Relief
Discretionary Relief
Small Business Rate Relief
Hardship Relief
Local Discounts
Retail Relief

Unoccupied premises

When a non-domestic property becomes empty, there is no charge for the first three months, or six months in the case of industrial property. After the initial rate-free period has expired, the empty property will be charged 100% of the business rates, as though the property was occupied. However, there are certain exemptions from the empty charge which include listed buildings and properties with a rateable value of less than £2,900. 

Partly-occupied premises

If only parts of your property are unoccupied, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) may be able to value the unoccupied property separately. The rule about charging after three or six months will then apply to the unoccupied property. If the VOA can't value the unoccupied parts separately, you may still be able to claim some relief under Section 44a of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, which deals with relief on part-occupied properties.