Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme - 2024/2025

At the Autumn Statement on 22 November 2023, the Chancellor extended the business rates relief scheme for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties, worth an estimated £2.4 billion into 2024-25.

The scheme provides eligible, occupied properties with a 75% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business.

Find out more about the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme for 2024/2025.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the discount, the premises must:

• Be occupied
• Be wholly or mainly being used:
• as a shop, including markets, chemists, newsagents, petrol stations and hairdressers.
• as a restaurant, café, drinking establishment, cinema or live music venue.
• for assembly and leisure.
• as a hotel, guest and boarding premise, or self-catering accommodation.

You won't be eligible for the discount if the premises are being used for:

• the provision of financial services, such as banks, building societies, cash points, bureau de change or short term loan providers.
• medical services such as dentists, doctors, vets, osteopaths or chiropractors.
• professional services such as solicitors, accountants, insurance agents or financial advisors, employment agencies, estate agents or letting agents.
• post office sorting offices.

In some cases, the discount will automatically be extended to 2024/2025 based on your eligibility for the discount in 2023/2024. However, if you believe you meet the eligibility criteria and:

• don't exceed the cash cap
• have not received an automatic award

Please complete our online form below to apply. Please note that applications for relief to be awarded from 1 April 2024 must be received by no later than 30 September 2025. Any applications received after this date will only be considered for 1 April 2025 onwards.

Apply for the scheme

What if I don’t want to receive the relief or I exceed the cash cap?

You can opt-out of receiving the discount from 2024 to 2025 by contacting us that you wish to not receive the discount in relation to the premises. Your bill refers to at any time up to 31 March 2025. Once the discount has been refused it is not possible to withdraw the refusal for all or any part of the discount period. 

• Contact us online if you wish to refuse discount.
• Find out more about the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme for 2024/2025 including the £110,000 cash cap.

Please note that the government and Barnsley Council will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain this discount, including claiming support above the cash cap.  A ratepayer who falsely applies for any relief, or provides false information or makes a false representation in order to gain relief may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006.  Checks will be undertaken to protect the council against fraudulent activity. 

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme - 2023/2024

At the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022, the Chancellor announced the introduction of a new business rates relief scheme. This is for retail, hospitality and leisure properties in 2023/2024 and is worth around £2.1 billion.

The scheme will provide eligible, occupied properties with a 75% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business.

Find out more about the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme for 2023/2024.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the discount, the premises must:

• Be occupied
• Be wholly or mainly being used:
  • as a shop, including markets, chemists, newsagents, petrol stations and hairdressers.
  • as a restaurant, café, drinking establishment, cinema or live music venue.
  • for assembly and leisure.
  • as a hotel, guest and boarding premise, or self-catering accommodation.

You won't be eligible for the discount if the premises are being used for:

• the provision of financial services, such as banks, building societies, cash points, bureau de change or short term loan providers.
• medical services such as dentists, doctors, vets, osteopaths or chiropractors.
• professional services such as solicitors accountants and insurance agents or financial advisors.
• post office sorting offices.

In some cases, the discount was automatically extended to 2023/2024 based on your eligibility for the discount in 2022/2023. However, if you believe you meet the eligibility criteria and:

• don't exceed the cash cap
• have not received an automatic award

Please complete our online form below to apply. Please note that applications for relief to be awarded from 1 April 2023 must be received by no later than 30 September 2024. Any applications received after this date will only be considered for 1 April 2024 onwards.

Apply for the scheme

What if I don’t want to receive the relief or I exceed the cash cap?

You can opt-out of receiving the discount from 2023 to 2024 by contacting us that you wish to not receive the discount in relation to the premises. Your bill refers to at any time up to 31st March 2024. Once the discount has been refused it is not possible to withdraw the refusal for all or any part of the discount period. 

• Contact us online if you wish to refuse discount.
• Find out more about the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief scheme for 2023/2024 including the £110,000 cash cap.

Please note that the government and Barnsley Council will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain this discount, including claiming support above the cash cap.  A ratepayer who falsely applies for any relief, or provides false information or makes a false representation in order to gain relief may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006.  Checks will be undertaken to protect the council against fraudulent activity. 

Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)

• The doubling of the small business rate relief from 50% to 100% was made permanent from 1 April 2017
  
  
• The £6,000 and £12,000 thresholds were increased to £12,000 and £15,000 respectively. Properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or below that meet the eligibility criteria will receive 100% relief.
  
  Those businesses with rateable values between £12,001 and £14,999 will receive tapered relief. The taper will operate as it does now, with 100% relief for eligible hereditaments (properties that can be inherited) with a rateable value up to £12,000, decreasing to 0% relief for hereditaments with a rateable value of £15,000 or above.

• If your property has a rateable value between £12,001 and £15,000, click here to check how much relief you will receive.

• If you occupy other properties, the rateable values can be up to £2,900 and the total rateable value of them all can't exceed £19,999.

You can complete an application for Small Business Rate Relief using our online form below.

Small Business Rate Relief prior to April 2017

You can get small business rate relief if:

• you only occupy one business property in England and its rateable value is less than £12,000. (From 2014/15, businesses receiving the relief will keep it for an additional year if they take on an additional property that would previously have caused them to lose it).

• you occupy a main property with a rateable value of less than £12,000, but also occupy other properties, each with rateable values under £2,600, and the total rateable value of all them doesn't exceed £17,999. Relief can only be awarded on the property with the highest rateable value.

You won't pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £6,000 or less.

If your property's rateable value's between £6,000 and £12,000, you can get between 99% and 1% relief. 

Business Rates Improvement Relief

Improvement Relief will support businesses wishing to invest in their property. It will ensure that no ratepayer will face higher business rates bills for 12 months as a result of qualifying improvements to a property they occupy.

The relief is scheduled to commence from 1 April 2024. It will apply to works completed by 31 March 2028 (with qualifying works completed by that date benefitting from 12 months of relief).

The works should:

• Increase the area of any building in or on the hereditament.
• Otherwise improve the physical state of the hereditament
• Add to it rateable plant and machinery.

Therefore, neither a newly constructed hereditament nor a refurbished hereditament (which had left the rating list during the works) will qualify. A change of use alone or the addition of land also will not qualify.

Improvement Relief will only be awarded upon receipt of a certificate from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) following the completion of qualifying works.

For a hereditament to be considered for relief, the same ratepayer must have been in occupation of the hereditament on each day since the qualifying works commenced (cases where occupation changes between subsidiaries are ignored for the purposes of this relief).

Find out more about the Non-Domestic Rating (Improvement Relief) (England) Regulations 2023.

Heat networks relief

You can get heat networks relief if your property is only used or mainly used as a ‘heat network’.

A heat network supplies heating or cooling to other properties from a central source. To be eligible, the heat network must:

• take its energy from a low carbon source.
• supply heating and cooling to other properties. For example, homes, shops, public buildings, hospitals, and offices.

The heat network must not supply heat or cooling for industrial use. For example, to create products in factories.

What you’ll get

You will not pay business rates if your property is eligible for heat networks relief.

How to get heat networks relief

Contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to check if your property is eligible for heat networks relief.

If your circumstances change

Report changes to make sure you’re paying the right amount and do not get a backdated increase in your bill or overpay your bill.

Contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) if the property is no longer only or mainly used as a heat network.

Charitable rate relief

Charities

Registered charities can apply for charitable rate relief of up to 80% if a property's used for charitable purposes. This includes shops, providing that the goods on sale are wholly or mainly donated. Fill in our online form below to apply for relief.

In some circumstances, we can grant additional relief to charities. Read our discretionary relief policy or read our discretionary relief guidelines.

Where a property's owned by, or let to, a charity and is currently empty, zero rates apply, provided that it's used for charitable purposes when it's next occupied.

To register as a charity, you should make a request directly to the Charity Commission. You'll find more information about registering on the Charity Commission website.

Community amateur sports clubs (CASC)

Amateur sports clubs registered with HM Revenue and Customs can also apply for up to 80 per cent relief. Fill in our online form below to apply for relief.

 Visit the HM Revenue and Customs website for information on registering or write to HMRC Charities, Sports Club Unit, St John's House, Bootle, Merseyside L69 9BB.

In some circumstances, we can grant additional relief to community amateur sports clubs.

You can apply for CASC status through HM Revenue and Customs.

Non-profit making organisations

Discretionary relief may be awarded to certain other non-profit-making bodies, such as sports clubs, social enterprises and community associations. Fill in our online form below to apply for relief.

Each application is considered on its own merit. 

To support your application, you’ll also need to upload a copy of your organisation's:

• memorandum and articles to show what you do
• audited accounts and balance sheets for the last two years (if these aren’t available, provide financial statements prepared by an appropriate officer of the organisation)
• tenancy agreement (where applicable)

Rural rate relief

You may qualify for rural rate relief if your business is in a rural area with a population below 3,000.

These are the rural areas in Barnsley that are eligible for relief:

Parishes

• Billingley
• Brierley
• Cawthorne
• Dunford Bridge
• Great Houghton
• Gunthwaite and Ingbirchworth
• High Hoyland
• Hunshelf
• Langsett
• Little Houghton
• Oxspring
• Silkstone
• Stainborough
• Tankersley
• Thurgoland
• Wortley

Other areas

• Broomhill
  
• Carlecoates
• Crane Moor
• Crow Edge
• Green Moor
• Hemingfield
• Hood Green
• Howbrook
• Hoylandswaine
• Hunthwaite
• Jump
• Middlecliffe
• Millhouse Green
• Pilley
• Silkstone Common
• Thurlstone
• Townhead

Fill in our online form below to apply for relief.

You can get 50% off your business rates if your business is:

• the only village shop or post office, with a rateable value of up to £8,500; or
• the only public house or petrol station, with a rateable value of up to £12,500

We can also top up the mandatory 50% relief to 100% by granting discretionary relief; read our discretionary relief policy (from April 2016) and our previous discretionary relief guidelines (prior to April 2016) for more information.

We may also grant up to 100 per cent discretionary relief to other retail businesses in rural areas, which have a rateable value less than £16,500, providing you can show that the business will benefit the local community.

Rural rate relief from April 2017

You’ll get 100% off your business rates if you apply and qualify for mandatory rural rate relief.

Empty property relief

Empty property rates are payable on most commercial properties by the 'person entitled to possession'. This is usually the leaseholder or tenant if there is one, or the freeholder if not.

You don't have to pay business rates on empty buildings for the first three months the building's empty. This period is extended to six months for properties classed as industrial, such as factories, warehouses or workshops.

After the three month exemption, you'll pay 100% of the occupied rate, unless one of the following exemptions applies:

• ​the rateable value is less than £2,600, increasing to £2,900 from 1 April 2017
• the property, when next in use, is likely to be occupied by a charity or community sports club
• occupation is prohibited by law
• the property's empty due to action taken by the crown or by any public or local authority, either to prevent occupation or to acquire the property, for example a compulsory purchase order's been made
• the property's a listed building or subject to a preservation order
• properties where the person liable would be so only in his/her capacity as a personal representative of a deceased person, a liquidator, or a trustee under a deed of arrangement
• properties where the person entitled to possession is the subject of insolvency proceedings, the owner is a company in administration 

Part occupied property relief

A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rates whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied.

Where a property's partly occupied for a short time, for example when a phased occupation takes place, or where there's ongoing refurbishment, we have the discretion to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part. Fill in our online form below to apply for relief.

To calculate the rates on each part, we can ask the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to revalue the property to accurately apportion the rateable value between the occupied and unoccupied areas of the property.

If agreed, the rates on each part will be calculated so that full rates are charged on the occupied part, and empty rates are charged on the unoccupied part.

Rate reductions will only apply for up to three months (six months for an industrial property).  After that, the full charge will be reapplied (unless the empty part is otherwise exempt).

You’ll need to provide details about the temporary nature of the partial occupation, together with a plan showing the occupied and unoccupied parts of the property.

You can do this using our evidence upload form.

When we receive your application, we’ll arrange an inspection of your premises to confirm the partial occupancy. Because of this, we won’t normally accept applications for part occupied relief once your property becomes fully occupied again.

Hardship relief

Under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, we have a discretionary power, in exceptional circumstances, to award up to 100% rate relief to businesses that are experiencing hardship. 

To award hardship relief, we have to be satisfied that:

• the ratepayer will suffer hardship if relief is not granted
• any hardship being experienced isn't a normal business risk or within the ratepayer’s control
• there's a direct benefit to the ratepayer, or the community, and there's no adverse impact to other ratepayers or the community as a result of awarding the relief.

See our current discretionary relief policy (from April 2016) and our previous discretionary relief guidelines (prior to April 16) if you need more detail.

To support your application, you’ll also need to complete out evidence attachment form of your organisation's:

• current and previous two years' audited accounts
• last three months' bank statements
• income and expenditure over the last three months, if not covered in your audited accounts

Disputing a decision

You can ask us to reconsider our decision if we don’t award you a relief or exemption. Just fill in our dispute form below within 28 days of receiving our decision.

Subsidy control rules

When claiming business rate relief, businesses must ensure that by accepting relief that they are compliant with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

The act allows public authorities to award low-value subsidies (up to £315,000) without the need to comply with the majority of the subsidy control requirements. This is referred to as minimal financial assistance (MFA).

MFA is capped at a threshold of £315,000, meaning that no individual recipient can receive more than this amount over the applicable period (3 financial years).

The 3 financial years period is defined as the elapsed part of the current financial year (that is, from 1 April) and the 2 financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.

Further information relating to the Subsidy Control Act 2022.