East of England · 2025-26
Business Rates in Colchester
Businesses in Colchester paid £68.2m in net business rates during 2025-26, below the average English council's £93.2m.
Are you paying too much in Colchester?
Check your rateable value and relief eligibility in about 60 seconds. Free, no sign-up.
Relief granted in Colchester
Share of £23.8m total relief, 2025-26.
Colchester at a glance
Colchester granted £23.8m in relief overall, lower than the national council average of £26.3m. This included £6.7m in Small Business Rate Relief and £3.8m in retail, hospitality and leisure relief.
A further £9.0m went to charity relief and £2.7m to empty property relief, reflecting the mix of ratepayers across the local authority.
Colchester has an estimated 7,400 active businesses, according to the latest ONS Business Counts (2025).
Colchester ranks 171 out of 296 local authorities in England on the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation, where 1 is most deprived and 296 is least deprived.
Following the 2026 revaluation, the total rateable value of retail property in Colchester rose by 11.8% — if this pushed your assessment too high, an appeal may be worth considering.
Frequently asked questions
How much are business rates in Colchester?
Colchester's local authority collected £68.2m in net business rates income during 2025-26, based on the national multiplier applied to each property's rateable value, less any relief granted.
What reliefs are available in Colchester?
Colchester granted £23.8m in business rates relief in 2025-26, including £6.7m in Small Business Rate Relief, £3.8m in retail, hospitality and leisure relief, £9.0m in charity relief, and £2.7m in empty property relief.
How do I know if I'm overpaying?
If your rateable value looks high compared to similar properties nearby, or you're not currently receiving relief you may be entitled to, it's worth checking your assessment. Use our free checker to compare your rateable value and see if you may be eligible for a reduction or backdated refund.
Colchester compared with the East of England and England
- Average rateable value
- £28,342£3,793 below the East of England average (£32,135)£5,648 below the England average (£33,990)
- Largest sector by value
- Other commercial property, 39.5%6.6 percentage points above its 32.9% share in the East of England
- Total rateable value, 2023 to 2026 list
- +16.2%East of England: +18.3%England: +19.6%
Counts and rateable values are from the stock of properties at March 2026, on the 2023 rating list. Changes are from the 2026 revaluation, comparing the 2023 rating list with the 2026 rating list.
Property mix
Colchester comes 146th of 296 English councils on average rateable value (£28,342) and 24th of 45 in the East of England. The same sector leads on numbers too: 36.2% of Colchester's rateable properties fall in the other commercial category.
Retail accounts for 21.0% of Colchester's rateable properties and 26.4% of its rateable value, compared with 20.6% and 18.7% across the East of England. At March 2026, around 30 of Colchester's rateable properties had a rateable value of £500,000 or more, rising to around 40 on the 2026 list.
Change at the 2026 revaluation
Colchester's +16.2% change in total rateable value at the 2026 revaluation sits mid-table in the East of England: stronger than in 19 of the 44 other councils and weaker than in 25. The sharpest increase in Colchester was in industrial property, where total rateable value rose 24.3% at the 2026 revaluation, compared with +20.2% for industrial property across the East of England. No sector fell in Colchester: retail property moved least, up 11.8% at the 2026 revaluation, compared with +9.8% for retail property across the East of England.
Reliefs
In 2025-26, relief in Colchester came to 25.1% of gross rates payable, above the 21.2% for England as a whole. Charity relief was the largest of the four main reliefs in Colchester, at 37.7% of total relief, above 29.7% across England.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs, using Valuation Office Agency data, and MHCLG relief returns. Open Government Licence v3.0. Method and rounding: /methodology.
See how Colchester compares with the rest of the region: Business rates in East of England, State of Business Rates in England 2026 →
Nearby areas
Compare with other councils in the East of England
Other East of England councils with their average rateable value, listed from the closest to Colchester's £28,342.
- Business rates in Brentwood£29,002 average rateable value, £660 higher than Colchester
- Business rates in East Hertfordshire£27,244 average rateable value, £1,098 lower than Colchester
- Business rates in Norwich£27,092 average rateable value, £1,250 lower than Colchester
- Business rates in East Cambridgeshire£26,894 average rateable value, £1,448 lower than Colchester
- Business rates in Braintree£26,598 average rateable value, £1,744 lower than Colchester
- Business rates in Ipswich£30,559 average rateable value, £2,217 higher than Colchester
Figures from MHCLG National Non-Domestic Rates statistics (2025-26), ONS UK Business Counts (2025), and English Indices of Deprivation (2025).
Updates for Colchester
By email.