Business Rates: Reform
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned timetable is for permanent reform of business rates.
Answered by James Murray
Over the Parliament, we will create a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced that it intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties from 2026-27 for properties with Rateable Values below £500,000. Ahead of these changes being made, we have prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
These announcements reflect the Government’s first steps to support the high street. We want to go further to modernise the system, and so, we have published a Discussion Paper setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system over the course of this Parliament.
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