Get help paying your business rates

The Business Rates Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme applies to eligible occupied retail, hospitality and leisure properties in 2024 to 2025.

If you are already getting retail, hospitality and leisure relief for 2023 to 2024, we award the 2024 to 2025 retail, hospitality and leisure relief automatically on your annual bill. This is unless, as under guidance, we believe that your business would reasonably be expected to exceed the £110,000 cap. Or, your business is now an excluded business.

See GOV.UK 2024/25 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief guidance.

In line with the conditions set by the government, a ratepayer may only claim up to £110,000 of support under the 2024 to 2025 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme for all their eligible hereditaments. This cash cap applies at a Group company level (so holding companies and subsidiaries cannot claim up to the cash cap for each company). The cash cap also applies to organisations which, although not a company, have such an interest in a company that they would, if they were a company, result in its being the holding company.

The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme is subject to the Minimal Financial Assistance limits under the Subsidy Control Act. This means no recipient can receive over £315,000 over a 3-year period (consisting of the current financial year and the 2 previous financial years). Extended Retail Discounts granted in 2021 to 2022 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.

To claim the retail, hospitality, and leisure relief, you must not have exceeded the 2024 to 2025 cash cap of £110,000. You also must not have gone over the £315,000 Minimal Financial Assistance limit for 3 years, including 2024 to 2025.

If the following applies to you, make an application (accepting the relief and declaring that you comply with the cash cap and exemption threshold):

• you have not received any other 2024 to 2025 retail, hospitality and leisure relief for premises other than the one to which you are liable for in Hackney and you have not received more than the Minimal Financial Assistance limit of £315,000 over 3 years (including 2024 to 2025)
• you (or if appropriate a company in your Group) have received the 2024 to 2025 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme support on any other property but to a level below the £110,000 cash cap – you should list the other retail, hospitality and leisure relief granted for premises other than the one to which this bill relates
• you (or if appropriate a company in your Group) have not received more than the Minimal Financial Assistance limit of £315,000 over 3 years (including 2024/25) – if appropriate you should list the other subsidies you have received

If the following applies to you then you’re ineligible to receive this relief:

• you have exceeded the cash cap on other properties
• you have received more than the Minimal Financial Assistance limit of £315,000 over 3 years (including 2024/25)

The government and us will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain this discount. This includes claiming support above the cash cap or the exemption threshold. A ratepayer who falsely applies for any relief, or provides false information or makes false representation to gain relief may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006.

If you believe that you qualify for the 2024 to 2025 retail, hospitality and leisure relief but haven’t had it awarded, complete the application form:

Apply for 2024 to 2025, retail, hospitality and leisure relief

• you have exceeded the cash cap on other properties
• you have received more than the Minimal Financial Assistance limit of £315,000 over 3 years (including 2023/24)

Apply for 2023/24, retail, hospitality and leisure relief

Small business rate relief is not applied automatically – you need to apply for it.

You can get small business rate relief if:

• your property’s rateable value is less than £15,000
• your business occupies one property – you may still be able to get relief if you occupy more than one property

Apply

Apply for small business rate relief

If you’ve applied for small business rate relief in the past, you don’t have to apply again.

However, you must contact us if the rateable value of the property has changed.

What you get

You will generally not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less.

For properties with a rateable value of £12,001 to £15,000, the rate of relief will go down gradually from 100% to 0%.

If you use more than one property

When you get a second property, you’ll keep getting any existing relief on your main property for 12 months.

You can still get small business rate relief on your main property after this if both the following apply:

1. none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
2. the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £28,000

Charities and community amateur sports clubs can apply for rate relief of up to 80% where they occupy a property that is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

If you think you’re eligible, apply:

Apply for charity relief

We can also give charities and not for profit organisations discretionary rate relief of up to 100%, if you are a registered charity in receipt of the 80% mandatory charity relief or a not for profit organisation.

A panel meets on a quarterly basis and decides who will get discretionary rate relief, therefore the application process can take up to 4 months.

Check if you can apply: charity and not for profit – discretionary rate relief policy

The relief is awarded at our discretion. There is no right or entitlement to an award.

Applications have to be made every year and must be made online.

You can save your progress and continue whenever you want. For more information, see our guidance documents listed below.

2023 to 2024 applications

Before making your application read the 2023 to 2024 application guidance (google doc).

Apply  Continue your application

2024 to 2025 applications

You can access the application form in our 2024 to 2025 application guidance (google doc).

Once you have applied, you will get an email with a tracking reference. If you haven’t included all the information, the application might take longer.

To be eligible for hardship relief, you need to satisfy us that both:

• you would be in financial hardship without it
• giving hardship relief to you is in the interests of people of Hackney

If you think you might be eligible, complete the form and explain your situation:

Apply for hardship relief

We introduce transitional relief schemes at each revaluation to limit how much your bill can change each year as a result of the business rates revaluation. The next revaluation will come into effect on 1 April 2023.

This means we phase in the changes to your bill gradually, if you’re eligible.

From the 2023 to 2024 tax year you’ll get transitional relief if your:

• property is in England
• rates go up by more than a certain amount

We adjust your bill automatically if you’re eligible.

How much your bill can change by

How much your bill can change by from one year to the next depends on both:

• your property’s rateable value
• whether your bill is increasing or decreasing as a result of revaluation

You stop getting transitional relief when your bill reaches the full amount set by a revaluation.

The business rates year is from 1 April to 31 March the following year.

If your bill is increasing from 1 April 2023

At Autumn Statement 2022 the Chancellor also announced a new Supporting Small Business (SSB) relief scheme which will cap bill increases at £600 per year for any business losing eligibility for Small Business Rate Relief or Rural Rate Relief at the 2023 revaluation.

You can get supporting small business relief from 1 April 2023 if both the following apply:

• your business property’s bill is going up after the revaluation on the 1 April 2023
• you’ll lose some or all your small business rate relief (SBRR) or rural rate relief (RRR)

The scheme also provides support for those previously eligible for the 2022 to 2023 SSB scheme and facing large increases in 2023 to 2024 but in those cases for one further year only.

This relief applies to the following financial years:

• 2023 to 2024
• 2024 to 2025
• 2025 to 2026

Awards reduce over the years so bills may increase. The £600 is for 2023 to 2024 only.

You do not need to apply for this relief because we will automatically apply it to qualifying accounts.

See GOV.UK – Business Rates Relief: 2023 Supporting Small Business Relief, local authority guidance

If your property has a rateable value up to £50,999, your bill will be automatically calculated using the small business relief reduced multiplier, which is lower than the standard one.

From 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 the small business multiplier is 49.9p and the standard multiplier 51.2p.

From 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 the small business multiplier is 49.9p and the standard multiplier 51.2p.

From 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 the small business multiplier is 49.9p and the standard multiplier 51.2p.

From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 the small business multiplier is 49.9p and the standard multiplier 51.2p.

From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 the small business multiplier is 49.9p and the standard multiplier 54.6p.

Businesses in London with a rateable value over £75,000 from 1 April 2023 also pay the Business Rate Supplement (BRS) which is charged by the Greater London Authority in relation to the Crossrail project.

See Crossrail BRS explanatory information for ratepayers (google docs).

A property qualifies for an empty rate exemption (no rates are payable while the property remains empty and unoccupied) in these circumstances:

• the rateable value is less than £2,900
• it’s a listed building
• occupation is prohibited by law (it must be shown that the law provides the owner must not occupy the property in the circumstances currently prevailing or the effect of a prohibition or enforcement notice is to prohibit the owner from occupation)
• the owner is entitled to possession only in their capacity as the personal representative of a deceased person
• the property is the responsibility of a liquidator, administrator or trustee in bankruptcy
• properties that are held by a charity and will be used for charitable purposes when next occupied
• properties that are held by a community amateur sports club and will be used for this purpose when next occupied

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

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

Empty rate exemptions

A property qualifies for an empty rate exemption (no rates are payable while the property remains empty and unoccupied) in these circumstances:

• the rateable value is less than £2,900
• it’s a listed building
• occupation is prohibited by law (it must be shown that the law provides the owner must not occupy the property in the circumstances currently prevailing or the effect of a prohibition or enforcement notice is to prohibit the owner from occupation)
• the owner is entitled to possession only in their capacity as the personal representative of a deceased person
• the property is the responsibility of a liquidator, administrator or trustee in bankruptcy
• properties held by a charity and are used for charitable purposes when next occupied
• properties held by a community amateur sports club and are used for this purpose when next occupied

If you miss one payment, we’ll send you a reminder. If you don’t pay this within 7 days, you’ll receive a final reminder and have to pay all the business rates you owe for the year at once.

If you pay the amount you missed but miss payments again we will send you a second and final reminder. You’ll have to pay the full amount that you owe for the year within 7 days.

If you can’t pay the full balance, contact us immediately to see if we can help you.

We don’t promise to be able to help everyone but the sooner you contact us, the better our chances of being able to help.

Contact us

Or tel 020 8356 3466.

If you don’t pay the full balance, we will start legal proceedings and apply to the magistrate’s court for a liability order against you.

The summons costs are £136. If the court grants the liability order, you will have to pay £12 on top of the £136.

There may also be fees for enforcement agents, which can be substantial.

The liability order allows us to:

1. employ enforcement agents to seize goods to pay for your debt
2. start insolvency proceedings against you
3. make an application for your committal to prison for a maximum of 3 months (if the enforcement agent is unable to recover the debt)

If you pay what you owe, including the enforcement agent’s fees, we will stop all action and costs from the date we receive your payment.