The Government acknowledged that more assistance should be given to small, single property businesses, and consequently introduced the Small Business Rate Relief Scheme (SBRR). The scheme was introduced on 1 April 2005 and is available to businesses meeting the qualifying criteria.

See 'Downloads' for a copy of the 'Small Business Rate Relief Application Form'.

Who Qualifies?

This scheme is principally designed to help those ratepayers who occupy a single Non-Domestic property in England with a Rateable Value of less than £12,000. However, if you occupy a ‘main’ property and one or more other smaller properties, you may still qualify for a discount on the Rates for your main property, providing your total Rateable Value of all your properties does not exceed £17,999 and that of any of your other properties is not greater than £2,600.  
 
The relief granted to small businesses will be centrally financed by a supplement levied on the Rates of larger properties.  If you only occupy one property and your Rateable Value is between £12,000 and £17,999 (called ‘the buffer zone’) you will not qualify for discount from your bill – but you will still need to submit an application form to be exempted from paying the extra supplement.

Ratepayers can only claim relief in respect of one property.

Applying for Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)

Please note that SBRR is not an automatic entitlement as Ratepayers must meet the criteria on every chargeable day for which they claim relief.

The application must be signed by the ratepayer or a person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer. This means, where the ratepayer is:

A sole trader – the proprietor of the business;
A partnership – a partner of that partnership;
A trust – a trustee of that trust;
A limited company or other body corporate – a director of that body.

The application should state the property for which relief is being claimed, and also list any other Non-Domestic properties in England occupied by that ratepayer.

If the ratepayer is a partnership, and one or more of the partners occupies other Non-Domestic property (either solely or as part of the same or a different partnership) then ALL the properties involved must be declared.

A condition of entitlement to SBRR is that a ratepayer must notify the Council of any changes in circumstances that may affect their entitlement to the relief, within four weeks starting on the day after the change occurred.

These changes are:

Any increases in the Rateable Value of a property occupied by the ratepayer which is not in the area of the billing authority granting SBRR – these changes will have to be notified in writing; and

the ratepayer coming into occupation of any property which is not mentioned in their application for relief – these changes will have to be notified through a fresh application for relief.

How much relief will I get?

1. Under the rules of the scheme up to 30 September 2010:
Qualifying properties with a Rateable Value of £6,000 or less will get 50% relief.
The relief for properties with a Rateable Value between £6,001 and £12,000 will reduce by 1% for every £120, from 50% at £6,000 to 0% at £12,000.
In addition, eligible properties will have their Rates bill calculated on the lower rating multiplier.

The occupiers of ‘buffer zone’ properties receive the benefit of the lower multiplier only.

2. The scheme from 1 October 2010 to 31 March 2013:
The Government has temporarily extended the scheme up to 31 March 2013 so that the level of relief for those that qualify has again doubled. 

This means that:
Qualifying properties with a Rateable Value of £6,000 or less will get 100% relief.
Properties with a Rateable Value between £6,001 and £12,000 will enjoy a discount reducing from 100% at £6,000 to 0% at £12,000. (The relief you will be entitled to will be reduced by 2% for £120 of Rateable Value above £6000).

If you currently receive small business rate relief, your relief will continue automatically in 2012/13 and will be shown on your bill.

All occupied properties with a Rateable Value less than £18,000 (that are not occupied by charities) will now have their Business Rates bill calculated using the small business non domestic rate multiplier (the lower multiplier) automatically.

If your circumstances change, for example you occupy another property anywhere else in England, then you must notify the Council immediately as this may affect your entitlement to the relief.

Please note that it is not possible to claim Small Business Rate Relief against empty properties.