Film studio relief

How a film studio qualifies for this relief

For a property to be qualify for film studio relief, it must be:

• Used for the production of films or television programmes
• And, in whole or in part, have sound stages or film sets

An unused studio can also be eligible, if it appears that when next in use it will be used for the production of films or television programmes.

In addition, the property must be valued by the Valuation Office Agency as a studio, falling within one of the following categories:

1. Temporary or semi-permanent filming studios
2. Older filming studios, whether converted or purpose built
3. Modern industrial conversion filming studios (typically converted to film studios post 2010)
4. Modern purpose built filming studios (typically built post 2010)
5. Campus sites

If you qualify for the relief, it will be applied to your bill automatically.

Amount of relief

Film studio relief will reduce your bill to 60% of the gross charge before transitional relief.

If you are also eligible for transitional relief we will apply this to your bill, along with the film studio relief. However, the two reliefs together will only add up to a 40% reduction.

This relief will last for 10 years from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2034.

Subsidy

If you receive money from the film studio 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.

Policy

We will shortly publish a local policy for film studio relief for 2026/27.