Luton Borough Council

Small business rate relief

Small businesses for rating purposes are defined as having a rateable value under £51,000.

Can I claim small business rate relief?

This scheme was first introduced in April 2005, revised in April 2010 and further updated by the present government soon after they came into power, in October 2010 with the aim of assisting small businesses.

If your business has just one property you can claim 100% Rates Relief if the premises have a rateable value of less than £12,000 and will therefore finish-up paying NO RATES.

If your business has one property you may also claim a reduction in rates if you occupy a property with a rateable value between £12,000 and £15,000. The level of relief given to these properties is on a tapered basis, the lower the rateable value the greater the percentage relief.

The relief reduces by 1% for every £30 increase in the rateable value above £12,000.

If the 2023 revaluation means you no longer get small business relief, your bill won’t increase by more than £600 per year from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

Very substantial savings are on offer for almost all small businesses and we must grant such relief to qualifying companies. It is still possible to claim Small Business Rate Relief under the 2017 Rating List. The deadline for backdating is 30 September 2023.

Claim small business rate relief

Claims for relief after April 2012 do not need to be made on a standard form, you can make these by e-mail, letter or by telephone.

Claiming small business rates relief has no effect on our finances as this is a self-funding scheme paid for via a levy on larger rate-payers and therefore we welcome all applications for relief because we appreciate that if relief is claimed the monies are very likely to be re-invested in the local economy.

You can also apply if you have more than one business property and the rateable value of the smaller property is under £2,900. The total rateable value of the properties must be less than the £20,000.

Or if you have taken on additional premises since the 14 February 2014 to help your business expand relief will still be given on your original property for a twelve month period.

Follow this link for table giving details of how the relief is calculated for the financial year 2023 / 2024.

You're a small business but don't qualify for small business rate relief

If your property in England has a rateable value below £51,000, your bill will be calculated using the small business multiplier, which is lower than the standard one. This is the case even if you don’t get small business rate relief.

The small business multiplier is 46.6p and the standard multiplier is 47.9p from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

For more information about Supporting Small Business relief please visit GOV.UK website.