Non-domestic and business rates

Reliefs and Discounts

Small Business Rate Relief

Properties with a rateable value(RV) of less than £51,000 which meet the following criteria will benefit from the small rating multiplier:

  • Not eligible for any other form of mandatory relief and
  • Are occupied

Businesses which occupy a sole or main property with rateable value of not more than £12,000 will get 100% rate relief on their liability. Ratepayers with a sole or main property with a rateable value between £12,000 and £15,000 will receive a percentage reduction in their rate bill.

The relief is available to ratepayers with either:

  • one property, or
  • one main property and other additional properties, providing the additional properties do not have individual rateable values of more than £2,899 and the combined rateable value of all the properties is under £19,999 (or £27,999 in London). The threshold for the combined rateable value is dependent on the location of the main property. The main property is the only one that will have the relief applied to it. The additional properties will have their charges calculated using the standard multiplier.

If you have been awarded small business rate relief you must report any of the following changes:

  • If you become responsible for another business rated hereditament in another council area
  • If the property you are receiving small business rate relief on ceases to be occupied by you

Retail Discount – updated 1 April 2022

The government widened the Retail Discount Scheme to include the leisure and tourism industry and removed the £51,000 rateable value ceiling.

For the financial year 2022/23 the retail, hospitality and leisure business rates scheme will provide eligible, occupied retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a 50% discount, up to a cash limit of £110,000 per business.

The relief will be applied after any mandatory or other discretionary  reliefs have been applied to the account.

Ratepayers that occupy more than one property will be entitled to relief for each eligible property up to the maximum £110,000 cash cap, per business.

This relief should be detailed on your bill if you are eligible. If it is not showing and you think you may qualify you should contact revenues@hambleton.gov.uk quoting retail, hospitality and leisure discount in the subject box.

You should also contact us if you have been awarded the relief but you wish to refuse the award no later than April 2023

The scheme is likely to amount to subsidy so any relief provided under this scheme will need to comply with the UK’s domestic and international subsidy control obligations.

Mandatory and Discretionary Rate Relief 

Mandatory Relief

Premises that are wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes by a registered charity, including registered community amateur sports clubs (CASCS)  are entitled to 80% mandatory business rate relief.  Up to a further 20% may be awarded at the authorities discretion depending upon the charities use of the premises.

Discretionary Relief

Non profit making bodies whose main objects are charitable or otherwise philanthropic or religious, or are concerned with social welfare, education, science, literature, the fine arts or recreation can receive up to 100% relief.

Non domestic rating discretionary relief

If you receive Non-Domestic Rating Discretionary Relief your current entitlement will end with effect from 31st March 2023. This notice should be treated as notification of termination as required by law under Regulation 2(3) of the Non-Domestic Rating (Discretionary Relief) Regulations 1989. The new North Yorkshire Council will notify you, in due course, of any new entitlement to discretionary relief with effect from 1st April 2023.

You can find the Non domestic rating discretionary relief form here:

Why are you doing this?

The business rates legislation requires that we give recipients of discretionary rate relief at least 12 months’ notice of any variation in the amount we award. The new North Yorkshire Council will notify you in due course of any new entitlement to discretionary relief with effect from 1st April 2023.  

When will I know your plans and will I get support next year from the new council?

We don’t know exactly when these decisions will be made, but we know that the amounts of relief granted are important for organisations to plan their resources so we will be looking at this aspect early on. We will contact organisations affected as soon as this information is available.

Rural Rate Relief

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.

The property must be the only general store, the only post office or village shop and have a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £12,500. The property has to be occupied. 

Businesses eligible for mandatory rural relief will qualify for a 100% reduction. Those eligible businesses should see the reduction on their bill.

If it is not and you think you may qualify please contact revenues@hambleton.gov.uk quoting rural rate relief in the subject box

Extension of Transitional Relief for 2022/23

The transitional relief scheme was introduced to help ratepayers who were faced with higher bills as a result of revaluation. The current scheme ends 31 March 2022.

The government have announced an extension to the scheme for one year to coincide with the end of the current revaluation cycle. The extended scheme restricts increases in bills to 15% for small businesses (properties with an RV up to and including £20,000) and 25% for medium businesses ( properties with an RV up to and including £100,000). Unlike the existing transitional scheme, transitional relief for 2022/23 will be applied after other reliefs (including retail discount). We will apply the relief to accounts automatically, however if you think you should entitled please contact revenues@hambleton.gov.uk quoting transitional relief in the subject box.

COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF)

The Government announced the details of a new COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) of £1.5 billion. This fund is to support businesses impacted by the pandemic who were ineligible for existing support linked to business rates.

Based on the level of funding provided to us and the potential businesses identified as eligible, the amount of relief for qualifying businesses will be 50% of their 2021/22 non-domestic rates liability after any other relief or reduction has been applied.

Businesses are eligible to receive rate relief under this scheme where:

  • The qualifying premises is occupied during 2021/22 (temporary closures due to Covid-19 restrictions are ignored)
  • The ratepayer occupying the premises has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and has been unable to adequately adapt to that impact

Exclusions

Businesses will not be considered for this relief where:

  • The ratepayer is in receipt of an extended retail discount or nursery discount
  • The premises are classified as unoccupied for non-domestic rating purposes
  • The ratepayer is in receipt of an existing relief amounting to 100%

There is no formal application process for CARF as the council has conducted an exercise to identify those accounts where we believe the reduction is applicable. Revised notices showing awards of CARF will be issued w/c 21 February 2022. Any enquiries relating to an award of CARF relief should be directed to the Revenues Section at revenues@hambleton.gov.uk quoting CARF in the subject box.

Unoccupied properties (empty and unused)

Once a property becomes empty, the first three months are exempt from rating (six months in the case of empty industrial property). After this period 100% rates are payable. Certain properties can receive an extension period in which they do not pay business rates - these include listed buildings, ancient monuments and small properties with a rateable value under £2,900.

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