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Business rates budget statement

Autumn Budget 2025 business rates measures

At the Autumn Budget on 26 November 2025, the Chancellor announced that government would provide the following measures to support businesses in England, worth an estimated £4.3 billion over the next five years. 

  • Permanent lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, funded by higher rates on properties with a rateable value over £500,000. Retail, hospitality and leisure relief (RHL) ends on 31 March 2026.
  • new retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multipliers to be 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.
  • £4.3 billion support package to cap bill increases for sectors hit hardest by revaluations from April 2026.
  • Transitional Relief Scheme worth £3.2 billion for large ratepayers
  • 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.
  • Expanded Supporting Small Business (SSB) scheme for for properties losing some or all of their small business relief or rural rate relief. This will cap bill increases to 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 SSB scheme from 1 April 2026. This support is applied before changes in other reliefs and local supplements.
  • Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) has been extended, allowing businesses taking a second property to remain eligible for relief on their first property for three years rather than one year.
  • Consultation on barriers to investment and valuation methodology; draft 2026 Rating List expected soon.

Contact us - Business Rates

0333 038 6550
(Text phone users add 18001 before dialing)

sodc.businessrates@secure.capita.co.uk

South Oxfordshire District Council
PO Box 162
Erith
DA8 9DS

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