For 2026/27 The Government have introduced three new multipliers to replace the outgoing Retail, hospital and leisure relief scheme. The new retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multipliers have been set 5p below the relevant national multipliers for qualifying properties with rateable values below £500k, funded by a high-value multiplier 2.8p above the national standard multiplier for properties with rateable values of £500,000 and above.

The Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers for 2026/27 will be as follows:
•    Small business RHL multiplier: 38.2p
•    Small business non-domestic rating multiplier: 43.2p
•    Standard RHL multiplier: 43.0p
•    Standard non-domestic rating multiplier: 48.0p
•    High-value non-domestic rating multiplier: 50.8p
 

Further details on the multipliers and how your bill is calculated can be found on the Business rates overview page.

If the rateable value of your property increases significantly as a result of the revaluation, transitional relief limits how much your bill will increase each year to gradually phase in the changes to your bill.

For 2026, the scheme will restrict increases in bills to 5% for businesses with small properties (up to and including £20,000 rateable value); 15% for medium properties (up to and including £100,000 rateable value); and 30% for large properties (over £100,000 rateable value).

Ratepayers not in receipt of transitional relief or supporting small business rate relief will be liable for a 1p supplement to the relevant tax rate to partially fund transitional relief. This will apply for one year from 1 April 2026.

The Government has re-introduced a supporting small business relief scheme for the 2026 rating list to ease bill increases for businesses losing some or all of their small business rates relief or rural rate relief. The increase 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.

The Government has introduced 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 Government has agreed to extend the Small business rates relief (SBRR) grace-period from one to three years, meaning businesses expanding into a second property from 27 November 2025 will remain eligible for SBRR on their first property for three years.