Supporting small businesses rate relief

The government introduced the relief scheme to support small businesses facing large increases to their business rates because of losing some, or all, of their business rate relief, following the national 2017 revaluation.

The adoption of a local Small Businesses Relief Policy allows the council to award this relief to qualifying ratepayers.

The amount of relief available

Following the 2023 revaluation, the relief will be available for eligible businesses. If you qualify for this relief, the annual increase in your business rates will be limited to:

•  A cash value of £600 a year (£50 a month)

If you receive supporting small businesses rates relief  and your rateable values are £51,000 or more, you will not have to pay a supplement to fund small business rate relief.

Ratepayers will remain in the scheme for either three years or until they reach the maximum bill they would have paid if the scheme did not exist.

The government announced the scheme in the Autumn 2022 budget and our cabinet met to approve this in March 2023.

Applying for the relief

We have contacted businesses we believe are eligible and will automatically award this relief to their business rates account.  

You have not been contacted and believe you are eligible, you can apply by filling in and returning our Supporting small businesses rate relief application form.

If you receive the relief, you will receive a revised bill showing your reduced business rates. 

Subsidy

If you receive money from the supporting small business rate relief scheme, it is likely that it will be seen as a subsidy from the government.

That means that you will need to make sure you meet the UK’s domestic and international subsidy control rules around this payment. 

Please read through the guidance from the Department for Business and trade Energy to understand more about the subsidy rules and how it may affect your business.

For more details, please contact our Business Rates team using the contact details below.