Mandatory Rural Rate Relief is for specific businesses in rural settlements which have a population of less than 3000 people. Our rural settlement list is published in December each year.

View our District's Designated Rural Settlements list 2024-2025 [PDF, 1MB]

To qualify the property must be:

• the only food shop, general store or post office in a settlement with a rateable value that does not exceed £8,500; or
• the only petrol filling station or pub in a settlement with a rateable value that does not exceed £12,500.

From 1 April 2024, 100% of this relief will be statutory for certain types of properties in a rural settlement, with a population below 3,000 may be entitled to full relief. The property must be the only general store, the only post office or a food shop and have a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £12,500. The property must be occupied.

Full details can be obtained from the local authority.

Please note, ‘food shop' means a trade or business consisting wholly or mainly for the retail sale of food for human consumption, not including confectionery and catering. In this context catering means any supply of food for consumption on the premises and any supply of hot food for consumption off the premises.

Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) can receive 80% Rate Relief.

To qualify as a CASC, a sports club must:

• be open to the whole community
• be run as an amateur club
• be a non-profit-making organisation
• aim to provide facilities for, and encourage people to take part in, eligible sport.

If you are a sports club which has not yet registered as a CASC and are interested in the registration process, please visit the Inland Revenue Sports club site or call the Inland Revenue Sports Clubs Unit on 0300 123 1073.

Registered Charities can be given 80% relief from Business Rates, on any Non-Domestic property that is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

Small Business Rate Relief may be available if a Ratepayer’s property has a rateable value of less than £15,000.

This applies to an individual, organisation, trust, partnership, or other types of businesses.

This rate relief applies if:

• you are a single business property in England which has a rateable value of less than £15,000; or
• if you have one main property in England with a rateable value (RV) of less than £15,000 and other additional properties, provided that those properties have RV's of less than £2,899. 

The total RV of all properties have to be under £20,000. The relief will be eligible for relief on the main property only.

• you get a second property, which would normally take you out of the eligibility criteria for this relief. You’ll keep getting any existing relief on your main property for 12 months from the date of occupation of the additional property.

You can still get small business rate relief on your main property only after this if both the following apply:

• none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
• the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £20,000

Ratepayers occupying only one property in England, where the rateable value is above £14,999 but below £51,000, are not entitled to relief. However, the small business rate multiplier will automatically be used to calculate their charge.

Ratepayers can only claim relief for one property, which must be occupied.

Properties with a rateable value between £12,000 and £14,999 are entitled to relief, which is on a sliding scale. The relief reduces by 1% for every £30 of Rateable Value, from £12,000 (100%) to £15,000 (0%).

If you receive a Small Business Rate Relief and your rateable value increases to more than £14,999 because of a change to your rating, then the Small Business Rate Relief is cancelled from the date of the change.

If you are receiving a Small Business Rate Relief and there is a change in your circumstances, you must let us know within 4 weeks of the change happening. The changes you must notify us of are:

• use of an additional property (relief will continue for 12 months after taking on an additional property which has a rateable value that meets the existing relief criteria)
• an increase in the rateable value of a property, which is being occupied in an area other than where we granted the relief.

In 2021 the Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill came into force which gives public lavatories 100% relief from Business Rates. The relief will not apply to toilets which are part of a larger business unit, for example, toilets in public libraries. This bill has been applied retrospectively from 1 April 2020.

Read more information on this relief