Update, 28 October 2026
The government has announced that, for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England, the Small Business Rate Relief thresholds will rise from 1 April 2027 until 31 March 2029: full relief up to a rateable value of £18,000 (currently £12,000), tapering to nil at £21,000 (currently £15,000). The regulations and guidance setting out the detail are still to follow. The rest of this guide describes the rules in force today, and our estimates use them.
What is Small Business Rate Relief?
Small Business Rate Relief is a discount applied to business rates bills for properties with a rateable value below a set threshold. It is available to businesses in England that occupy only one property — or where any additional properties have a rateable value below £2,900 each, with a total rateable value across all properties below £28,000.
The relief is administered by local billing authorities. In most cases it is applied automatically, but in some areas it must be claimed. If you are unsure whether it has been applied to your account, contact your local council.
For a complete overview of all available reduction routes beyond SBRR, see our full list of ways to reduce business rates.
Who qualifies for Small Business Rate Relief?
To qualify for SBRR in England, your property must have a rateable value of £15,000 or less, and you must meet one of the following conditions:
- Your property is your only business premises.
- You occupy more than one property but all additional properties have a rateable value below £2,900, and the total rateable value across all your properties is below £28,000.
If you occupy multiple properties and one exceeds the £2,900 threshold, you will not qualify for SBRR on any of them — even if the main property has a low rateable value.
How much relief will you receive?
The amount of relief depends on your rateable value:
| Rateable value | Relief applied |
|---|---|
| Up to £12,000 | 100% relief — no business rates payable |
| £12,001 to £15,000 | Tapered relief on a sliding scale |
| £15,001 and above | No SBRR — standard or small business multiplier applies |
For properties with a rateable value between £12,001 and £15,000, the relief reduces gradually from 100% to 0% as the rateable value increases toward the £15,000 threshold.
Even if your rateable value is above £15,000 and you do not qualify for SBRR, you may still benefit from the small business multiplier (43.2p for non-RHL properties under £51,000) rather than the standard multiplier, provided your property is your only or main business premises.
How to apply for Small Business Rate Relief
SBRR is applied by your local billing authority — the council responsible for issuing your business rates bill. In many areas it is applied automatically if your property qualifies, but this is not universal.
To apply or confirm whether it has been applied:
- Contact your local council’s business rates team directly.
- Check your business rates bill — SBRR should be shown as a credit or reduction on the bill itself.
- Use the GOV.UK business rates relief checker to identify the correct authority for your property.
If you believe you are entitled to SBRR but it has not been applied, you can request backdating — in some cases relief can be backdated to the date you became eligible.
What changed with SBRR in the 2026 revaluation?
The 2026 revaluation updated rateable values across England and Wales from 1 April 2026. For SBRR, this has had two significant effects.
First, properties whose rateable values increased above the £12,000 or £15,000 thresholds have lost some or all of their relief. A business that was paying nothing under full SBRR may now be paying a full or partial rates bill for the first time.
Second, the Supporting Small Business (SSB) scheme has been extended to protect businesses that lost SBRR as a direct result of the revaluation. Under the SSB scheme, increases in the rates bill are capped to limit the immediate impact of the change. However, SSB is a transitional protection — not a permanent solution. It limits how quickly the full liability reaches you, but does not change the underlying rateable value.
What if your rateable value went above the SBRR threshold?
If the 2026 revaluation pushed your rateable value above £12,000 or £15,000, and you believe that increase does not accurately reflect what your property could have achieved in rent at the April 2024 valuation date, there may be grounds to challenge it.
A successful challenge that brings your rateable value back below the threshold could restore your full or partial SBRR entitlement — and would be backdated to the date the Check was submitted to the HMRC Valuation Office.
This is one of the most commercially significant consequences of the 2026 revaluation for smaller businesses. Even a modest reduction in rateable value can have a disproportionate impact where it restores relief eligibility.
A free eligibility check will indicate whether your property’s rateable value appears to be in line with comparable properties, and whether a review may be worthwhile.
Can you still reduce your bill if you don’t qualify for SBRR?
Yes. SBRR is not the only route to a lower business rates bill. If your rateable value looks too high relative to comparable properties — regardless of whether you qualify for SBRR — there may be grounds for a review through the HMRC Valuation Office’s Check, Challenge, Appeal process.
Common indicators that a review may be worthwhile include:
- Comparable properties in your area are assessed at lower rateable values.
- Your current rent is materially below your rateable value.
- Market rents in your area fell between 2021 and 2024.
- Your property has changed structurally or in terms of access since the valuation date.
For more detail, see our guide on when to challenge your rateable value.
SBRR and the 2026 multiplier structure
From 1 April 2026, England operates five business rates multipliers rather than the previous two. For smaller properties, the relevant rates are:
- Properties with a rateable value under £51,000 that qualify as retail, hospitality or leisure (RHL): 38.2p in the pound.
- All other properties with a rateable value under £51,000 (including those that do not qualify for SBRR): 43.2p in the pound.
If you qualify for SBRR, the multiplier is less directly relevant — your bill is reduced to zero or near zero regardless. But if you lose SBRR due to a rateable value increase, you will move onto one of the above multipliers, which is why the threshold matters significantly.
For a full breakdown of the new multiplier structure, see our 2026 Business Rates Revaluation guide.