Business Rates
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Core Spending Power table: final local government finance settlement 2026–27 to 2028–29, published on 9 February, and the associated council tax requirement estimates for each year from 2024–25 to 2028–29 in England, if his Department will publish equivalent estimates for the total business rate receipts in England in each of those years, including both receipts from the local and central lists.
Answered by Alison McGovern
The government collects data twice a year on the business rates local authorities collect, once at the start of the year based on estimates, and then again at the end of the year based on what was actually collected in a given year. This is known as the National non-domestic rates collection.
Separately, the government has projected forward the measure of business rates included in the Local Government Finance Settlement, this is known as Baseline Funding Levels. Baseline Funding Levels represent the locally retained share of business rates in Core Spending Power (CSP) calculations, and these are uprated in line with forecasted inflation, using the Consumer Price Index. CSP for 2026-2027 to 2028-29 was published as part of the Final Local Government Finance Settlement.
The government will continue to keep its methodology for calculating the Core Spending Power of local government under review and in line with usual practice, decisions on future Settlements will be subject to consultation.
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