How business rates are calculated

From 1 April 2026, there will be significant changes to how business rate charges are calculated. These changes may affect the amount you pay.

In the last two Autumn Budgets, the Chancellor announced support to businesses in England for 2026/27:

• additional retail hospitality and leisure (RHL) non-domestic rating (NDR) multipliers

• additional high-value non-domestic rating multiplier

• transitional relief and supplement schemes

• 2026 supporting small business scheme (SSB relief)

• 2023 supporting small business scheme - one-year extension

• extending the small business rate relief (SBRR) grace-period from one to three years

• 100% relief for eligible electric vehicle charging points and electric vehicle only forecourts (EVCP relief)

• relief for pubs and live music venues

NDR multipliers and qualifying retail hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief

From 1 April 2026, the government will replace RHL relief with two NDR multipliers for properties with rateable values (RV) below 500,000.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council will identify which properties are in receipt of these multipliers in line with government guidance and will reflect this on your bill.

New multipliers from 1 April 2026

Transitional relief

To support ratepayers facing large bill increases at the revaluation, the government is introducing a redesigned transitional relief scheme worth £3.2 billion.

Transitional relief supplement

A 1p supplement to the relevant tax rate for ratepayers who do not receive transitional relief or the supporting small business scheme to partially fund transitional relief. This will apply for one year from 1 April 2026.

2026 supporting small business scheme

Bill increases for businesses losing some or all of their small business rates relief or rural rate relief will be capped at the higher of £800 or the relevant transitional relief caps from 1 April 2026. The 2026 SSB relief scheme has been expanded to ratepayers losing their RHL relief. The government has also announced a one-year extension of the 2023 supporting small business scheme from 1 April 2026. This support is applied before changes in other reliefs and local supplements.

Extending the small business rates relief (SBRR) grace-period from one to three years

Businesses will now keep their small business rates relief on their first property for three years after they take on a second property, instead of just one year

100% relief for eligible electric vehicle charging points and electric vehicle only forecourts (EVCP relief)

A ten-year 100% business rates relief for EVCPs separately assessed by the VOA and electric vehicle only forecourts to ensure that they face no business rates liability.

The regulations will be laid down in due course.

Business rates relief for pubs and live music venues, 2026 to 2027

The government has announced a new business rates relief for occupied pubs and live music venues. This relief will be applied as part of the annual billing process for the 2026/27 financial year, alongside other mandatory updates such as the revised business rates multipliers and the latest revaluation.

Eligibility (pubs)

To qualify, a property must meet all of the following characteristics:

• be open to the general public

• have free entry (except when occasional entertainment is provided)

• drinking is allowed without food being required

• drinks can be purchased at a bar

The following are not counted as pubs for the purpose of this relief:

• restaurants

• cafés

• nightclubs

• snack bars

• hotels, guesthouses

• boarding houses

• sporting venues

• festival sites

• theatres

• cinemas

• museums

• exhibition halls

• casinos

Local authorities may use discretion where eligibility is unclear, considering whether the premises meet the natural meaning of a pub.

Eligibility (live music venues)

To qualify, a property must be wholly or mainly used for live music performance for an audience.

Other uses must be:

• incidental or ancillary (e.g., food or drink for the audience) or

• infrequent (e.g., polling station or occasional community events)

Properties mainly used as nightclubs or theatres do not qualify.

Where needed, further clarification can be drawn from Chapter 16 of the statutory guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003.

What happens next?

You do not need to apply for this relief.

We will assess eligibility and apply the relief automatically when issuing annual business rates bills for 2026/27, factoring it in alongside all other national business rates changes

Retail, hospitality and leisure 2026 business rates calculator

You can estimate your 2026 business rates using the government's online calculator.