Business rates bills look different this year because a new rating list, five new multipliers, and a reshaped set of reliefs all took effect on 1 April 2026 together. A change in your bill is almost always driven by one of three things: a new rateable value, a new multiplier, or a relief that has appeared, disappeared or been replaced.
If your bill changed rather more than you expected in April 2026, there is a good reason. Actually, there are several.
On 1 April 2026, two major changes happened at once.
First, a completely new rating list came into force, giving more than two million non-domestic properties new rateable values for rating purposes.
Second, the old system of two main business rates multipliers became a system of five.
Add changes to reliefs on top of that, and comparing this year’s business rates bill with last year’s is not straightforward.
For businesses in Rochdale, Oldham, Heywood, Middleton, Chadderton, Bury and the surrounding area, don’t simply look at the bottom of the business rates bill and decide it has gone up.
Understand why your business rates have changed: a new rateable value, a different multiplier, a lost relief, an unclaimed relief, or some combination each needs a different response.
Key Takeaways
- A new rating list took effect on 1 April 2026, giving over two million properties new rateable values for business rates purposes, based on rents at the 1 April 2024 valuation date.
- There are now five business rates multipliers instead of two, from 38.2p for small retail, hospitality and leisure properties to 50.8p above £500,000.
- The old 40% RHL relief has been replaced by permanently lower business rates multipliers for qualifying properties.
- Small Business Rate Relief still cuts business rates by up to 100% for properties valued at £12,000 or below, tapering to nil at £15,000.
- The second-property grace period for business rates relief has been extended to three years for properties taken on from 27 November 2025.
- Transitional relief and Supporting Small Business Relief cap how fast an increase reaches your bill they phase it, not remove it.
- Check, then Challenge, then Appeal through the Valuation Office if the rateable value behind your business rates, not just the relief, looks wrong.
What changed to business rates on 1 April 2026?
A full revaluation replaced every rateable value used for business rates in England and Wales, and the number of multipliers rose from two to five, changing what businesses pay even where valuations look familiar.
The 2026 revaluation took effect across England and Wales on 1 April. New rateable values generally stay in use until 31 March 2029, when the next revaluation is due.
One point is easily misunderstood: your new rateable value isn’t based on today’s rents. The valuation date for the 2026 list is 1 April 2024. The Valuation Office uses rental evidence from that date to estimate the annual open-market value of the property.
Three different numbers therefore exist: the rent you actually pay, the rateable value of your property, and what you actually owe. They’re related but not the same. The rateable value is the starting point; your council applies the multiplier and any reliefs or transitional arrangements to produce the final figure.
According to the Valuation Office Agency, the 2026 revaluation affected more than two million non-domestic properties across England and Wales
The five business rates multipliers for 2026/27
From 2026/27, one of five multipliers is used to calculate business rates depending on property type and rateable value, replacing the old two-tier system check which one is on your bill first.
Previously most owners knew a small business multiplier and a standard one. From 1 April 2026 there are five, confirmed by government as follows:
| Type of property | Rateable value | 2026/27 multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Retail, hospitality and leisure – small | Below £51,000 | 38.2p |
| Other property – small business | Below £51,000 | 43.2p |
| Retail, hospitality and leisure – standard | £51,000 to £499,999 | 43.0p |
| Other property – standard | £51,000 to £499,999 | 48.0p |
| High-value property | £500,000+ | 50.8p |
Oldham Council publishes these figures and confirms the applicable multiplier should appear on the front of your bill a useful first check.
What happened to the old 40% retail, hospitality and leisure relief?
Direct answer: The 40% RHL discount on business rates has been withdrawn and replaced with permanently lower multipliers built into the business rates calculation for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties.
During 2025/26, qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure businesses could receive a 40% relief from their business rates bill, subject to the relevant rules. That arrangement has ended. From April 2026, qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties instead benefit from permanently lower multipliers.
So you may no longer see a large RHL relief line on your bill. That does not necessarily mean somebody has forgotten to give you the discount. The system itself has changed. The 2026/27 Rochdale policy specifically records the removal of the previous Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief Scheme.
For qualifying properties below £51,000 rateable value, the new RHL multiplier is 38.2p rather than the ordinary small business multiplier of 43.2p. Between £51,000 and £499,999, the RHL multiplier is 43p rather than the ordinary 48p standard multiplier.
At £500,000 and above, however, the high-value 50.8p multiplier applies.
Do I qualify as a retail, hospitality or leisure business?
Qualifying for the lower business rates multiplier depends on the Valuation Office’s classification of your property’s actual use, not simply which industry you consider yourself part of.
Don’t assume the lower multiplier automatically applies because your business vaguely fits one of those categories.
The property generally needs to be wholly or mainly used for a qualifying purpose, so the actual activities at the premises matter.
Compare what the Valuation Office thinks the premises are against what you actually use them for. Retail is broadly aimed at supplying goods or services to visiting members of the public, not wholesale activity.
If the wrong multiplier has been applied, raise it with the council.
Small Business Rate Relief in 2026/27
Small Business Rate Relief can reduce or eliminate business rates for a single qualifying property under £15,000 rateable value, with 100% relief at £12,000 or below and a sliding scale in between.
You may generally qualify where you occupy one property below £15,000. Oldham Council publishes the scale as follows:
| Rateable value | Reduction |
|---|---|
| £12,000 or below | 100% |
| £12,500 | 83% |
| £13,000 | 67% |
| £13,500 | 50% |
| £14,000 | 33% |
| £14,500 | 17% |
| £15,000+ | Nil |
A qualifying business at £12,000 or below can owe nothing. Between £12,001 and £15,000, relief tapers away gradually. Roughly a third of all business properties in England fall below the £15,000 threshold and are therefore potentially eligible
Official guidance is here:
GOV.UK – Small Business Rate Relief
The second-property rule changed in November 2025
Taking a second property no longer puts your business rates relief at immediate risk from 27 November 2025, the grace period for keeping relief on your main property extended from 12 months to three years.
Historically, taking another property could quickly disrupt Small Business Rate Relief. The rules are now more generous. If you took on an additional property before 27 November 2025, the old 12-month grace period applies to your main property.
On or after that date, the grace period is three years.
After it expires, you may still qualify if none of your other properties exceeds £2,899 rateable value and the combined total stays below £20,000 outside London useful for a Rochdale or Oldham business expanding into a second unit.
But tell the council: you have reporting responsibilities when taking on another property, and its systems won’t automatically join the dots for you.
My rateable value has jumped. Do I have to pay the whole increase immediately?
Not necessarily. Transitional relief caps how much your business rates can rise each year after the 2026 revaluation, phasing a large increase in gradually rather than applying it all at once.
The government runs transitional relief after every revaluation to stop businesses feeling the full effect of a large valuation jump immediately.
For 2026/27, the maximum increase attributable to revaluation is broadly:
| Rateable value | 2026/27 cap |
|---|---|
| Up to £20,000 | 5% |
| £20,001–£100,000 | 15% |
| Above £100,000 | 30% |
Different limits apply in later years as the transition continues, and eligible relief should apply automatically.
But the commercial point matters more than the technical one: transitional relief phases the increase, it doesn’t remove it.
If your underlying valuation points to a substantial rise, 2026/27 may only be the start.
Look at your likely position in 2027/28 and 2028/29 now a £10,000 increase spread over several years is still a £10,000 increase; you’ve simply gained time to prepare.
Supporting Small Business Relief for 2026
This scheme limits how much a business rates bill can increase in one year when a business loses reliefs such as Small Business Rate Relief or the old RHL discount because of the 2026 revaluation, capping the rise at £800 or the transitional percentage, whichever is higher.
The 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief scheme applies from 2026/27 for eligible businesses whose bills increase after revaluation while they lose some or all of Small Business Rate Relief, Rural Rate Relief, the former 40% RHL relief, or 2023 Supporting Small Business Relief.
Increases are capped at £800 a year or the relevant transitional percentage, whichever gives the greater permitted rise.
The government’s own example illustrates the scale: a non-RHL property whose rateable value rises from £3,000 to £14,000 could otherwise face a bill before reliefs of £6,188.
Empty premises: when do business rates stop?
Most empty commercial premises get a three-month exemption from business rates, industrial premises can get six months, and certain properties such as listed buildings or those below £2,900 rateable value can be exempt for longer.
Empty properties relief commercial premises normally get three months exempt before full charges resume. Qualifying industrial premises, such as warehouses, get a further three months, six in total.
- Listed buildings;
- Properties with rateable values below £2,900;
- Qualifying properties owned by charities where the next use will mainly be charitable;
- Qualifying community amateur sports club properties where the next use will mainly be for the club.
There are detailed conditions, so don’t simply stop paying because you’ve moved out tell Rochdale or Oldham Council that the premises are vacant and confirm what relief applies.
GOV.UK – Empty Property Business Rates Relief
Have you improved or extended your premises?
Improvement Relief can shield you from the extra charge caused by qualifying improvements to your rateable value for up to 12 months after the work completes.
Introduced from 1 April 2024, this relatively new relief is easy to overlook. If qualifying improvements raise your rateable value, you can get relief on the additional amount for 12 months from completion.
- Increasing the size of the premises;
- Adding certain new features;
- Installing equipment such as heating, air conditioning or cctv.
Simply replacing or improving an existing feature does not necessarily qualify.
The Valuation Office decides whether works qualify and issues a certificate; the council then applies the relief.
GOV.UK – Business Rates Improvement Relief
Charities, sports clubs, CICs and other not-for-profits
Registered charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs can get 80% mandatory relief, with the remainder sometimes covered by discretionary relief depending on council policy but CICs aren’t automatically treated the same way.
Qualifying charities generally get 80% mandatory relief where premises are wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes, and Community Amateur Sports Clubs registered with HMRC can qualify too.
The remainder can sometimes be addressed through discretionary relief depending on the council’s policy.
Rochdale’s 2026/27 discretionary policy covers charities, sports clubs, non-profit leisure clubs and other non-profits but being a CIC doesn’t automatically bring the same treatment as a registered charity.
Discretionary relief is exactly that, so the strength of the application matters. Check what’s available locally via Rochdale Council or Oldham Council.
What if only part of my premises is empty?
Part-occupied property relief lets the Valuation Office apportion your rateable value between occupied and unoccupied sections, but it’s discretionary and only available if you raise it with the council.
This is another situation worth discussing with the council. Suppose you occupy a 10,000 sq ft unit but are gradually moving out. Or you have taken larger premises but will only occupy half initially.
In some circumstances the council can consider part-occupied property relief, with the Valuation Office apportioning the rateable value between the occupied and unoccupied portions.
This is discretionary and fact-specific. The important thing is to raise it.
Owner-managed businesses sometimes continue paying the bill in full because nobody has told them there may be an alternative.
What if the rateable value itself is wrong?
A business rates relief looks wrong, contact the council; if the underlying rateable value looks wrong, you need the Valuation Office’s Check, Challenge and Appeal process instead.
Councils calculate and collect business rates the Valuation Office sets the rateable value behind them. The current system runs in three stages.
1. Check:
Use your valuation account to review floor area, description, use, layout and comparable properties. Raise a Check if the facts are wrong this must happen before a Challenge.
You also need to complete the Check stage before making a Challenge.
GOV.UK – How to Challenge Your Business Rates Valuation
2. Challenge:
Once Check is complete, you can challenge the valuation itself if it still looks wrong. This needs a reason and supporting evidence, not just “it’s too high” comparable rents and assessments matter here.
3. Appeal:
If you disagree with the Challenge outcome, you can escalate to the Valuation Tribunal. You cannot jump straight to appeal, and if the underlying property facts were wrong, fix those first.
Be careful with reduction companies
Revaluations attract cold calls promising dramatic reductions — check the evidence behind the claim, how the adviser is paid, and whether there’s a percentage success fee before signing anything.
Some rating advisers are excellent; others are far less impressive.
Before appointing anyone, establish:
- What they are actually going to do;
- What evidence supports the proposed challenge;
- How they are paid;
- Whether there is a percentage success fee;
- How long the agreement lasts;
- And what happens if the valuation later changes again.
A salesman’s confidence isn’t evidencing your assessment is wrong.
It’s also worth asking how they will report back to you: a good adviser should be able to explain, in plain terms, exactly which piece of evidence they intend to rely on and why it applies to your specific property, rather than a generic promise that “most businesses are overpaying.”
Ten things to check on your 2026/27 business rates bill
If you’ve just put the bill in the accounts pile and hoped somebody else understands it, get it back out.
I would check these ten things.
- Which of the five multipliers has been used?
- Does the Valuation Office’s description of the property reflect its actual use?
- If the rateable value is below £15,000, has Small Business Rate Relief been dealt with correctly?
- If you acquired another property on or after 27 November 2025, has the new three-year grace period been considered?
- If the rateable value increased substantially, is transitional relief shown?
- If you lost a previous relief, could 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief apply?
- Have you made qualifying improvements that might attract Improvement Relief?
- Is any of the building empty or temporarily unused?
- Are the floor areas and other property details held by the Valuation Office actually, correct?
- What is the likely bill in 2027/28 and 2028/29?
The last one matters. A relief that protects you this year may simply be delaying an increase rather than removing it.
What is the Small Business Rates multiplier for 2026/27?
For qualifying non-RHL properties, the small business multiplier is 43.2p.
For qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties within the relevant lower rateable-value band, it is 38.2p.
Do I pay business rates on an empty shop?
Usually not for the first three months after it becomes empty.
After that, full rates generally become payable unless another exemption applies.
How do I challenge my rateable value?
Start with the Valuation Office’s Business Rates Valuation Account.
Check the information about the property, raise a Check case where appropriate and then move through Challenge and, if necessary, Appeal.
The important point
A business rates bill from the council isn’t something to accept automatically just because it arrived.
That doesn’t mean a mistake has been made it means there are several moving parts this year: a new rating list, new valuations, five multipliers, different RHL treatment, transitional protection, Supporting Small Business Relief, Improvement Relief, Small Business Rate Relief, empty-property rules and local discretionary schemes, all feeding into one final figure.
For some businesses everything on the business rates bill will be right; for others, a simple review turns up something worth pursuing.
With the current rating list running until 2029, an error in the valuation isn’t a one-year problem it can shape your outgoings for several years to come.
Business Rates Help for Rochdale and Oldham Businesses
At Carter Collins & Myer, we work with owner-managed businesses across Rochdale, Oldham, Heywood, Middleton, Chadderton, Bury and the wider Greater Manchester and Lancashire area. If your 2026/27 bill doesn’t make sense, we can help you work through what’s changed and identify the right next step the rateable value, the multiplier, Small Business Rate Relief, transitional arrangements,
Supporting Small Business Relief, Improvement Relief, empty or part-occupied premises, or local discretionary relief.
Sometimes the answer is simply that the bill is correct. That’s useful too at least you know what you’re budgeting for.
This article relates to business rates in England for the 2026/27 financial year and provides general information rather than advice on a particular property. Eligibility for relief depends on individual circumstances, and some discretionary reliefs are subject to council policy and applicable subsidy-control rules.