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Transitional relief limits how much your bill can change each year as a result of business rates revaluation. The next revaluation will come into effect on 1 April 2023.
This means changes to your bill are phased in gradually if you're eligible. From the 2023 to 2024 tax year, you'll get transitional relief if your property is in England and your Non Domestic Rates increase by more than a certain amount. If you are eligible, your bill will be adjusted automatically.
Your bill can change by the following % from one year to the next, depending on:
If your bill is increasing from 1 April 2023
| Rateable Value | 2023 to 2024 | 2024 to 2025 | 2025 to 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £20,000 | 5% | 10% plus inflation | 25% plus inflation |
| £20,001 to £100,000 | 15% | 25% plus inflation | 40% plus inflation |
| Over £100,000 | 30% | 40% plus inflation | 55% plus inflation |
You stop getting transitional relief when your bill reaches the full amount set by a revaluation.
The Government has funded a new Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief. The 2024/25 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme will provide eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with 75% relief, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. The relief is for the 2024 to 2025 tax year only (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025).
No ratepayer can exceed the £110,000 cash cap across all their Non-Domestic Rated properties in England. Where a ratepayer has a qualifying connection with another ratepayer then those ratepayers should be considered as one ratepayer for the purposes of the cash caps.
Relief can be granted on shops, restaurants, cafes and drinking establishments which are reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public and used for:
Properties providing services such as financial services, medical services, professional services etc. are excluded from the scheme.
Important Information about the £110,000 cash cap/Small Amounts of Financial Assistance subsidy
Awards such as Retail Relief are subject to the Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) limits under the Subsidy Control Act. This means no recipient can receive over £315,000 in a 3-year period (consisting of the current financial year and the 2 previous financial years). Extended Retail Discounts granted in 2021/22 do not count towards the limit. Covid business grants received from local government and any other subsidy claimed under the Minimal Financial Assistance or Small Amounts of Financial Assistance limit over the 3-year period should be counted.
You do not need to satisfy yourself that:
In cases where it is clear to the us that the ratepayer is likely to breach the cash cap or the MFA limit then we will not award relief. Otherwise, we request on a self-assessment basis, that you inform us if you are in breach of the cash caps or MFA limit.
Subsidy is a complicated subject, so if you do exceed any of the conditions listed above, it may be that your business is ineligible for this relief; please read this government information 
.
If you wish to refuse relief, please email us: counciltax@fareham.gov.uk and we will arrange to remove the relief and issue a revised bill.
We have sent a review letter with annual bills, checking entitlement to Small Business Rate Relief. If you have received a review letter, please complete this form: Small Business Review Form.
The Government has updated the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme from 1 April 2023; this is available to ratepayers with either:
Ratepayers who occupy a property with a rateable value which does not exceed £50,999 (and who are not entitled to other mandatory relief or are liable for unoccupied property rates) will have their bills calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier (49.9p in 2024/2025), rather than the national non-domestic rating multiplier (54.6p in 2024/2025).
In addition, you may receive a 100% reduction in your rate bill if your Rateable Value is below £12,000 and if your Rateable Value is between £12,001 and £14,999 you will receive a percentage/phased reduction in your bill up to 100%.
You must let us know of changes in your circumstances within four weeks of the day they happened if:
If you wish to claim small business rate relief, please complete this form.
The Government has introduced additional support to small businesses that take on an additional property which would normally have meant the loss of small business rate relief, businesses will be allowed to keep that relief for a period of 12 months, from the date the additional property is occupied.
A new scheme of Small Business Relief has been introduced for those ratepayers facing large increases as a result of the loss of Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) following the revaluation.
For 2023/24, eligible ratepayers with a Rateable Value less than or equal to £12,000 are entitled to 100% SBRR. Those with a Rateable Value of between £12,001 and £14,999 enjoy tapered relief up to 100%. At the 2022 Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced that the 2023 Supporting Small Business (SSB) scheme will cap bill increases at £600 per year for any business losing eligibility for some or all Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief at the 2023 revaluation. This cash maximum increase ensures that ratepayers do not face large bill increases in 2023/24 after transitional relief and small business rate relief (as applicable) have been applied.
Those on 2023 SSBR whose 2023 Rateable Values are £51,000 or more will not be liable to pay the supplement (1.3p) to fund small business rate relief while they are eligible for 2023 SSBR.
Ratepayers remain in the Supporting Small Businesses relief scheme for either 3 years or until they reach the bill they would have paid without the scheme. A change of ratepayer will not affect eligibility for the Supporting Small Businesses relief scheme but eligibility will be lost if the property becomes vacant or is occupied by a charity or Community Amateur Sports Club.
There is no need to apply for this relief as we will identify all eligible properties. However please contact us if you have any questions.
Your organisation must be a charity or trustees for a charity or a registered community amateur sports club, and
If the property is unoccupied you may still qualify for relief so long as it appears that when next used the property will be wholly or mainly used for charitable purpose.
Note, if we cannot establish regular use of the premises or expected regular use, or if the use made is very erratic, we may decide relief is not appropriate.
The Council will also consider granting Discretionary Relief of:
(a) Occupy a property where all or part is occupied for the purposes of one or more institutions or other organisations which are not established or conducted for profit and their main objects are charitable or are otherwise philanthropic or religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts; or
(b) a property which is wholly or mainly used for purposes of recreation, and all or part of it is occupied for the purpose of a club, society or other organisation not established or conducted for profit.
Charities and certain non-profit making organisations are entitled to a reduction on Non-Domestic Rates for properties occupied for charitable purposes. There are two types of relief, Mandatory and Discretionary. Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) are also entitled to relief from rates on any non-domestic property wholly or mainly used for the purposes of that club or other such registered club
The Charity Commission offers the following advice to charities in relation to entering into any tenancy agreements to occupy empty properties; the commission advises that the charity trustees must:
The Charity Commission has been made aware of a number of charities who have entered tenancy agreements and is examining whether the trustees of the charities involved have properly discharged their trustee duties when making the decisions to occupy those properties to further their charitable purposes, and whether any benefit to the landlord is incidental to that.
For more information about any relief, contact our business rates team on 01329 824651 or by email to businessrates@fareham.gov.uk.
You will not pay business rates in the first three months that a property is empty or the first six months in the case of certain industrial properties. After this time, unless your property has a Rateable Value of less than £2,900, you must pay rates in full. Empty rates are always calculated on the full multiplier (currently 51.2p for 2023).
Other exemptions may apply.
In most cases, the unoccupied property rate is zero for properties owned by charities and community amateur sports clubs.
You are liable for the full non-domestic rate if your property is wholly occupied or partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time only, we have discretion to award relief for the unoccupied part.
A subsidy is where a public authority such as a Local Authority provides support to an enterprise that gives them an economic advantage, meaning equivalent support could not have been obtained on commercial terms. This could include any Discretionary Rate Relief.
On 4 January 2023, the UK's new subsidy control regime came into force, implementing a new subsidy regulation framework designed for the post-Brexit era. Underpinned by the Subsidy Control Act 2022 , and government guidance, the new regime aims to grant public authorities the power to design and award subsidies in an agile way while complying with the UK's international commitments on subsidy control.
Further information is available on the Government's website
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