Business rates - reductions and reliefs

This relief is available to ratepayers who have lost some or all of their small business rate relief or rural rate relief as a result of an increase in rateable value in the 2023 revaluation.

This scheme, which runs from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026 limits any increase in business rates to £600 per year.

The relief is calculated automatically so you do not need to apply for it.

A change of ratepayers will not affect eligibility for the Supporting Small Business relief scheme, but eligibility will be lost if the property falls vacant or becomes occupied by a charity or community amateur sports club.

The Small Business Rate Relief scheme provides a maximum of 100% mandatory rate relief for properties with a rateable value up to £12,000, with relief declining on a sliding scale until, at a rateable value of £15,000, there is no entitlement.

• If you are occupying only one property with a rateable value of below £12,000 you would pay no rates at all;
• If you are occupying only one property with a rateable value of between £12,000 and £15,000 you would benefit from a discount on your bill;
• Eligible ratepayers with rateable values above £15,000 and below £51,000 will have their bills calculated using the small business multiplier.

Small Business Rate Relief can be awarded if:

• The rate payer occupies only one property, or
• The rate payer occupies one main property and other properties, where the rateable value of each additional property is less than £2,900 and the total rateable value of all the properties is less than £19,999. Rate relief can only be awarded for the main property.

If you are not claiming and think you may be eligible, contact us on 020 8207 7409 or download a small business rates relief application form (PDF, 120KB)

To try and minimise the financial impact that a general revaluation may have on businesses, the government introduced Transitional Arrangements.

Transitional Arrangements aim to ‘phase in’ any adjustments to the amount payable by a business. The principle behind this scheme is to ensure that businesses will not be expected to pay, or receive a reduction in their bills, by more than a pre-set percentage each year (determined by Central Government). Transitional arrangements are automatically applied and are shown on the front of your bill.

Non-domestic properties that are empty are awarded 100% empty rate relief for three months from the date on which they become empty and unoccupied. Industrial properties are entitled to six months’ empty rate relief.

Following this period, the full charge is payable unless the property is exempt from empty property rates.

Please be aware that the three or six-month rate free period applies to the property. This means if you buy or rent an empty commercial property you will be immediately liable for empty rates payable at the full occupied rate if the property had already been vacant for more than 3 months for a non-industrial property and 6 months if it is industrial.

The following properties can get extended empty property relief:

• Industrial premises (for example, warehouses) are exempt for a further three months
• Listed buildings - until they are re-occupied
• Buildings with a rateable value under £2,900 - until they are reoccupied
• Properties owned by charities - if the property’s next use will be for charitable purposes
• Community amateur sports club buildings - if the next use will be for sporting use

Please tell us when your property becomes vacant by calling 020 8207 2277 or emailing revenues@hertsmere.gov.uk

Ratepayers are liable for full non-domestic rates whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. However, in certain instances, the Council has the discretion if part of a property becomes temporarily vacant, to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part. This is called Section 44a relief.

When considering an application for discretionary rate relief the following factors will be taken into account:

• The circumstances leading to the partial occupation
• What is the intention of the business in relation to the unoccupied parts
• Evidence that the unoccupied part will be empty for a short term only

The following information gives details of the Council’s policy on Business Rates Discretionary Relief which may be helpful to you in completing the application form.

Charitable Relief

Mandatory Relief - Hertsmere Borough Council will grant 80% Mandatory Relief on a property which is occupied by a registered, excepted, or exempt charity, and which is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

Discretionary Top-Up Relief

The council will also consider applications for 10% Discretionary top-up relief if the charity ‘provides a direct charitable benefit to the local community’. Charities that benefit the residents such as Scouts, Guides, and Community Centres would qualify for the extra relief but charities occupying offices, commercial outlets and shops would not.

Discretionary Relief for non-profit making organisations

Discretionary Relief of up to 50% is available to non-profit organisations. To qualify, your organisation must either:

a) provide a direct charitable benefit to the local community, or

b) be a sports or social club

Property eligible under (a) must be wholly or mainly occupied for the purposes of a non-profit making institution or other organisation whose main objects are philanthropic or religious or concerned with social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts.

Property eligible under (b) must be wholly or mainly occupied for the purposes of a non-profit making club, society or other organisation and is used for the purposes of recreation.

The percentage of relief you may be entitled to, up to 50%, is determined by the bar / gaming machines and catering profit.

Claimants may be asked to provide further details of their membership, such as membership numbers / fees charged, especially relating to the residents of the borough.

To apply for any of the above, please complete the application form linked below.

To apply for charity relief download an application form (PDF, 69KB)

Non-profit making sporting organisations can benefit from 80 per cent mandatory relief.

This relief is intended to help clubs that:

• are open to the whole community
• are organised on an amateur basis
• have as their main purpose providing facilities for, and promoting participation in, one or more eligible sports

Non – profit making sporting organisations include:

• local amateur sports clubs registered with the HM Revenue and Custom as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs)
• Registered charities.

To apply for charity relief download an application form (PDF, 69KB) and guide (PDF, 78KB).

From 1 April 2017 you can get 100% rural rate relief if you occupy a property in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 and the business meets the following criteria:

• Is the only general store, food shop or post office with a rateable value of up to £8,500.
• Is the only public house or petrol station with a rateable value of up to £12,500.

From 1 April 2025 businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors may qualify for 40% 'retail, hospitality and leisure relief' on their business rates. This relief is intended to help support the businesses which make up our high streets and town centres.

Eligible properties

These are properties that are occupied, and wholly or mainly used:

• as a shop, restaurant, café, drinking establishment, cinema or live music venue
• for assembly or leisure (including sports clubs, nightclubs, theatres, sport and leisure facilities, gyms, public halls, clubhouses)
• as a hotel, guest and boarding premises or self-catering accommodation.

and which are wholly or mainly serving visiting members of the public.

For more information about what property uses are eligible, please visit:

Business Rates Relief: 2025/26 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Scheme - GOV.UK

Please note: the Government does not consider the following business types as being eligible for this relief:

• Financial services (for example: banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de change, short-term loan providers, betting shops)
• Medical services (for example: vets, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors)
• Professional services (for example: solicitors, accountants, insurance agents/ financial advisers, employment agencies, estate agents, letting agents)
• Post office sorting offices.
• Properties that are not reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public

This discretionary relief can be granted if you are experiencing hardship and your business is considered to be important to the local community. Contact us on 020 8207 7409 for an application form.

The Public Lavatories Act 2021 provides 100% business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. This relief applies retrospectively from 1 April 2020.

The relief will be applied automatically to the business rates account, there is no need to apply

State aid rules regulate public sector intervention, with the aim of ensuring fair competition and the proper functioning of the single market.

Giving unregulated financial support to some businesses would risk distorting competition within the European common market, and hinder the long-term competitiveness of the European Union.

This means that a business can only receive government support up to a maximum level. Because of this, we have to ask any business that applies for relief detailed questions about any financial support that they may already have received.

You can find out the State Aid 'de minimis' levels and what the rules for businesses are by downloading our guide below.

Read state aid guidance.

In the Spring Budget on 6 March 2024, the Chancellor announced that the government would continue to support the creative industries and set out that it would introduce a business rates relief for eligible film studios in England worth around £470 million over the next 10 years.

The guidance for this relief (currently in draft) will be published in due course following consultation with the sector and professional bodies.

The relief will be available on properties identified by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the VOA will notify authorities of which studios are eligible for support. The VOA has identified the following film studios in Hertsmere:

- Elstree Film Studios including Platinum Stages

- BBC Studios

- Sky Studios

The above eligible film studios will receive a 40% reduction on gross business rates bills until 2034, backdated to 1 April 2024, as soon as the government issue local authorities with the relevant guidance. We will issue revised bills as soon as we award the relief, so please continue to pay your business rates as billed until notified otherwise.

The 40% reduction is inclusive of transitional relief. The value of any transitional relief a studio receives will be deducted from the value of the film studio relief. This means that eligible film studios’ final bills will be no more than 60% of their gross bill.