Business Rates Relief Estimator
What rates relief is worth across an estate, including the cash cap that quietly limits it for groups.
England only, and every rate below is an input rather than a fixed figure. They change each April and you should confirm the current ones before relying on the result.
Pence per pound of rateable value. Applies below the threshold below. CONFIRM THE CURRENT FIGURE.
Applies at or above the threshold. CONFIRM THE CURRENT FIGURE.
Rateable value at which the standard multiplier takes over.
Retail, hospitality and leisure relief on the bill for eligible properties. This has changed almost every year.
Total relief one business can receive across ALL its properties in England. This is what catches groups.
| Site | Rateable value £ | RHL eligible? 1 or 0 | Gross rates | Relief | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - |
Check the figures before you use this. Business rates multipliers, the relief percentage and the cash cap are set at Budget and change most years. The defaults here are for illustration, replace them with the current figures from GOV.UK or your rates bill. This covers England only; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run different schemes.
How the estimate is worked out
Per site:
- Multiplier = small business multiplier below the threshold, standard multiplier at or above it
- Gross rates = rateable value × multiplier ÷ 100
- Relief = gross rates × RHL relief %, but only for eligible properties
Then across the estate:
- Relief before the cap = sum of each site's relief
- Relief actually received = the lower of that and the cash cap
- Rates payable = gross rates − relief actually received
A worked example
Four properties: three eligible restaurants at £48,000, £62,000 and £39,500 rateable value, and a head office at £18,000 that is not eligible.
- Soho, below the threshold: £48,000 × 49.9p = £23,952, relief at 40% = £9,580.80
- Shoreditch, above it: £62,000 × 55.5p = £34,410, relief = £13,764
- Borough: £39,500 × 49.9p = £19,710.50, relief = £7,884.20
- Head office: £18,000 × 49.9p = £8,982, no relief
Relief before the cap is £31,229, comfortably inside a £110,000 cap, so this estate receives all of it. Add four more sites of similar size and it would not, and the difference goes straight onto the bill. That is the number worth knowing in advance.
Common questions
How current are the default figures?
They are defaults for illustration, not a live feed. Multipliers, the relief percentage and the cash cap are all set at Budget and change most years, which is exactly why they are editable fields here rather than numbers baked into the page.
Before you use an output for anything that matters, check the current figures on GOV.UK or your rates bill and type them in. A number that looks authoritative and is a year out is worse than no number.
Why does the cash cap matter so much for groups?
Because it applies per business, not per property. A single site rarely reaches it. An estate of six or eight can qualify for far more relief than it is allowed to receive, and the excess simply disappears.
This is the single most common surprise we see: a group budgets relief site by site, and the actual bills come in higher because the cap bit at group level. The estimator above shows that gap explicitly.
Does this work for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?
No. Rates are devolved and the schemes genuinely differ: different multipliers, different reliefs, different thresholds and different caps. This is England only, and applying it elsewhere will give you a confidently wrong answer.
If you operate across borders, that is worth a conversation rather than a calculator.
What counts as RHL eligible?
Broadly, property being used as a shop, restaurant, café, bar, pub, hotel, gym or similar, open to the public. Offices, storage and production sites usually are not, which is why head office is set to 0 in the example.
The edges matter: a dark kitchen, a central production unit or an office above a restaurant can each go either way depending on how the property is assessed and used. If a meaningful part of your estate sits near one of those edges, get it looked at rather than assumed.
Should I be appealing my rateable value instead?
Often that is the bigger number. Relief reduces a bill; a successful challenge to the rateable value reduces the basis of every future bill, and can be backdated. The two are not alternatives. You can do both.
Our partner Cedar Dean works on leasehold property cost, which sits alongside this. If your rateable value looks out of step with the market, that is where to start.
Rates and thresholds shown are for 2026/27, correct as at 6 April 2026 for England. They are editable above, confirm the current figures before relying on any output.
England only. The multipliers, relief percentage and cash cap above are illustrative defaults, not live figures. They are reset at Budget most years. Check the current ones on GOV.UK or your rates bill and type them in before relying on any output. An estimate to help you plan, not advice on your own properties.
Rates across an estate, budgeted properly
We build the property cost line into your forecasts, cash cap included, so relief is something you have planned for rather than discovered.