Retail, hospitality and leisure relief

From 1 April 2026, the government will remove the temporary retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief. 

This relief will be replaced by new, lower business rates multipliers which will automatically be applied to your 2026/2027 bill.

For more information, go to how your business rates bill is calculated.

Who can apply

This relief is only available to retrospective applications for business rates up to 31 March 2026.

Your business must be trading from a property which is:

• occupied
• fully or mainly used for retail, hospitality or leisure activities – GOV.UK

What you will get

If you are eligible, you will get a percentage reduction off your bill for the relevant financial year.

Subsidy limits

This relief has a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business across all of its properties in England.

Relief is subject to UK subsidy limit – GOV.UK. A business is only entitled to £315,000 over 3 years.

For example: If your business received the full award in 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024, you would only be entitled to a maximum £95,000 for 2024 to 2025.

How to apply for or refuse the relief

Complete our online form to apply for or refuse the relief.

Start now

If you apply for relief, you must continue to pay your business rates until we have processed your application. We will contact you to let you know.

You may wish to refuse the relief because:

• you want to opt out due to the subsidy limit
• you receive the relief but you exceed the cash cap limit

Once you have opted out of the relief scheme, you cannot withdraw your decision for all or part of the reduction period.

After you apply

We will consider your application using the retail, hospitality and leisure scheme guidance – GOV.UK.

If your application is unsuccessful, we will write to you to explain why within 14 days of our decision.

Our decision is final. There is no formal right of appeal for this discretionary relief.