You can get small business rate relief if:

• your property’s rateable value is less than £15,000
• your business only uses one property - you may still be able to get relief if you use more

If you wish to apply for the relief please complete this application form. Please note you will require your account number and property reference number (PRN) to apply. This can be found either in the bottom left hand corner of your bill or searched for on the Valuation Office website.

Our application portal uses data provided by Companies House. To avoid delays in processing your application, please ensure your Companies House information is correct and up to date prior to submitting an application.

What you get

You will not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less.

For properties with a rateable value of £12,001 to £15,000, the rate of relief will go down gradually from 100% to 0%.

Examples

If your rateable value is £13,500, you’ll get 50% off your bill. If your rateable value is £14,000, you’ll receive a discount of 33%.

If you use more than one property

When you occupy a second property, you’ll keep getting any existing relief on your main property for 3 years.

You can still get small business rate relief on your main property after this if both the following apply:

• none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
• the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £20,000

You’re a small business but do not qualify for small business rate relief 

If your property in England has a rateable value below £51,000, your bill will be calculated using the small business multiplier, which is lower than the standard one.

Change in circumstances

Provided the ratepayer continues to satisfy the conditions for relief which apply at the relevant time as regards the property and the ratepayer, they will automatically continue to receive relief in each new valuation period.

Certain changes in circumstances will need to be notified to the local authority by a ratepayer who is in receipt of relief.

The changes which should be notified are—

(a)  the ratepayer taking up occupation of an additional property, and

(b)  an increase in the rateable value of a property occupied by the ratepayer in an area other than the area of the local authority which granted the relief.

The Government has reintroduced the supporting small business rate relief scheme for small businesses that as a result of the revaluation are losing some or all of their small business rate relief, rural rate relief, retail hospitality and leisure relief or 2023 supporting small business relief and, as a result, are facing large increases in their bills.  

The ratepayer must have been in receipt of small business rate relief, rural rate relief, retail hospitality and leisure relief or 2023 supporting small business relief on 31 March 2026 and must have had their bill increased by more than £800 as a result of the revaluation.   

In the first year of the scheme, this means all ratepayers losing some or all of their small business rate relief, rural rate relief, retail hospitality and leisure relief or 2023 supporting small business relief will see the increase in their bill capped at £800 or the percentage caps listed in the table (whichever is greater) for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.

Ratepayers remain in the supporting small businesses relief scheme for three years or until they reach the bill they would have paid without the scheme.  

Eligibility will be lost if the property falls vacant or becomes occupied by a charity. 

The rural rate relief scheme was introduced to help protect the last retail outlets and similar services in rural settlements with a population of less than 3,000.

You will not pay business rates if your business is in designated rural and either:

• the sole village shop or post office with a rateable value of up to £8,500
• the sole public house or petrol station with a rateable value of up to £12,500

Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) has discretion to award additional relief to charities and non-profit making organisations under s47 of the Local Government Finance Act (LGFA) 1988.

Mandatory relief

Charities and community amateur sports clubs can apply for charitable rate relief of 80% if a property is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes.

For organisations wishing to apply for mandatory rate relief please apply online and select ‘Charitable Rate Relief Application’ in the rates discount forms section.

Discretionary relief

Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) has discretion to award additional relief to charities and non-profit making organisations under s47 of the Local Government Finance Act (LGFA) 1988.

A significant portion of any discretionary relief granted is funded directly by MKCC, and because of this, the LGFA requires that the relief granted is in the general interests of MKCC tax payers. For example,

• Providing facilities which benefit the MKCC tax payers directly  
• Reduce the demand for MKCC services.

The form is designed to assist in this determination. The determination is entirely a decision for MKCC.

Generally, discretionary relief will be awarded for the whole of the financial year (April to March) unless your organisation is not liable for the whole period or does not fulfil the criteria for the whole period.

Please apply online and select ‘Discretionary Rate Relief Application’ in the rates discount forms section.

Please ensure you have read the guidance notes before completing and submitting your form, it is important that you provide all of the supporting information and evidence with your application.

Guidance notes

For guidance on Discretionary Rate Relief for charities and non-profit making organisations, please see our discretionary rate relief guidelines.

Discretionary Rate Relief Guidelines 26/27

Discretionary Rate Relief Policy 26/27

In England, councils can reduce your business rates bill with hardship relief.

To be eligible, you must satisfy your council that both:

• you would be in financial difficulties without it
• giving hardship relief to you is in the interests of local people

The local authority has discretion to give hardship relief in specific circumstances. Full details can be obtained from the revenues service on 01908 252 366.

Retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties received a 40% discount in 2025. In the Autumn 2025 Budget, the government announced that the discount would be removed.

You are still able to retrospectively submit applications for this relief. Please apply online select ‘Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme’ in the rates discount forms section.

The RHL relief has now been replaced with two new multipliers specially designed for RHL properties. 

To qualify for the lower RHL multiplier the property must be used wholly or mainly for one or more of the following purposes to visiting members of the public: 

• Retail sale or hire of goods or provision of a service e.g. shops, supermarkets, florists, butchers, garden centres, car showrooms, funeral directors, hairdressers, and dry cleaners
• Sale of food or drink e.g. restaurants, takeaways (if generally open to the public), cafes, pubs, and bars.
• Hospitality or accommodation e.g. hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, self-catering holiday homes, caravan parks, and campsites.
• Cultural, community, or recreational facilities e.g. cinemas, theatres, museums, public halls, gyms, sports clubs, swimming pools, and theme parks.

Properties primarily used for certain activities are specifically excluded, even if they have some public access, these include: 

• Financial services (banks, building societies, etc.)
• Medical and health services (dentistry, physiotherapy, etc.)
• Professional services (law, accountancy, estate agents, etc.)
• Storage and distribution of goods for online sales (warehouses)
• Car parks
• Schools, nurseries, or universities
• Betting shops 

Detailed guidance for the scheme provided by the Government is available here. If you believe your bill should be calculated using one of the lower RHL multipliers please apply online select ‘Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier’ in the rates discount forms section.

A 15% discount is available in 2026-27 for Pubs and live music venues that meet one of the below definitions. 

Pubs that meet all of the following characteristics:

• is open to the general public,
• allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided,
• allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed, and
• permits drinks to be purchased at a bar.

For these purposes, the meaning of pub does not include restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, snack bars, hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses, sporting venues, festival sites, theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums, exhibition halls, and casinos.

Live music venues that are wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience are also eligible to the relief. 

Their bills will then be frozen in real terms in 2027-28 and 2028-29, meaning it will only go up by inflation in those years.  

This will provide 100% relief separately assessed Electronic vehicle charging points and Electric vehicle only forecourts. 

This will provide 100% relief to hereditaments wholly or mainly used as public lavatories (whether they are free or charging) backdated to 1 April 2020.

Improvement Relief will support businesses wishing to invest in their property. It will ensure that no ratepayer will face higher Business Rates bills for 12 months, as a result of qualifying improvements to a property they occupy.

If, you have made qualifying improvements to your property, the Valuation Office will issue a certificate equal to the increase in the rateable value. Where, the same ratepayer has been in occupation of the property since the works started their bill will not increase for the first 12 months after the works were completed.

You do not have to pay business rates on empty buildings for 3 months. After this time, most businesses must pay full business rates.

Some properties can get extended empty property relief:

• industrial premises (for example warehouses) are exempt for a further 3 months
• listed buildings - until they’re reoccupied
• buildings with a rateable value under £2,900 - until they’re reoccupied
• properties owned by charities - only if the property’s next use will be mostly for charitable purposes
• community amateur sports clubs buildings - only if the next use will be mostly as a sports club

Certain properties are exempt from business rates.

You may not have to pay business rates on:

• agricultural land and buildings, including fish farms
• buildings used for training or welfare of disabled people
• buildings registered for public religious worship or church halls

However, there are strict legal requirements for these exemptions.

If your property is in England, you can report that you think it should be exempt using the Valuation Office Agency service.

Transitional relief limits how much your bill can change each year as a result of business rates revaluation. This means changes to your bill are phased in gradually, if you’re eligible.

We will adjust your bill automatically if you’re eligible.

How much your bill can change by from one year to the next depends on both:

• your property’s rateable value
• whether your bill is increasing or decreasing as a result of revaluation

You stop getting transitional relief when your bill reaches the full amount set by a revaluation.

If your bill is increasing from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029