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Business Rates: Local Press

Asked by Sir James CleverlyConservativeTreasuryTabled Answered 11 November 2025UIN 87326

The question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75616 on Business Rates: Local Press, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of the relief for local newspapers in the 2024-25 financial year; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of ending the relief from April 2025 on local newspapers.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson

From April 2017 to 31 March 2025, Eligible newspapers received a £1,500 reduction in their business rates liabilities. This discount applied up to a maximum of one discount per local newspaper title and per property.

The previous government took the decision for this relief to end in March 2025, and the current government has maintained that approach.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government publishes data on the cost of business rates relief.

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