Business Rates: Tax Yields

The Office for Budget’s Responsibility’s (OBR) October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook includes forecasts for UK business rates receipts. This is available online: https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_Oct_2024.pdf.

Additionally, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) publish non-domestic ratings receipts data and forecasts for the financial year ahead in England. Local authorities reported that the non-domestic rates income for 2023-24 was £25.1 billion. This is the amount that authorities collected after all reliefs, accounting adjustments and sums retained outside the rates retention scheme are taken into consideration. This is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-2023-to-2024/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-local-authorities-in-england-2023-to-2024.

For 2024-25, local authorities estimate the non-domestic rating income is forecast to be £26.3 billion: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-2024-to-2025/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-for-2024-to-2025

At the Autumn Budget, the government announced business rates policy for the 2025-26 period. The small business multiplier has been frozen at 49.9p and the standard multiplier has been uprated by CPI inflation from 54.6p to 55.5p. The Government also announced 40 per cent relief to Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) properties up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. This package is worth more than £1.6 billion in 2025-26. Projections for non-domestic rates income for this period will be published subsequently by MHCLG. Business rates policy for 2026-27 will be announced at Autumn Budget 2025.