Business rates: the five 2026/27 multipliers and what you pay

The 2026/27 multipliers

You pay business rates on the rateable value of the property you occupy, multiplied by a multiplier set by government. From 1 April 2026 England moved from two business rates multipliers to five. That change is the single most important thing to understand about the 2026/27 bill, because most older explanations still describe a two multiplier system that no longer applies. The five multipliers split property into retail, hospitality and leisure, usually shortened to RHL, and everything else, and they also split each of those by rateable value band. The result is that the multiplier you use depends on what the property is used for and how large its rateable value is.

For comparison, in 2025/26 England had only two multipliers: a small business multiplier of 49.9p and a standard multiplier of 54.6p. The five multipliers above apply in England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland operate separate systems with their own multipliers and their own relief thresholds, so a figure quoted for England does not carry across the border.

How the bill is worked out

The calculation itself is short. You multiply the rateable value by the multiplier that applies to the property, then apply any relief the property qualifies for. The multiplier is chosen by two things: whether the property is qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure property, and which rateable value band it falls into. Relief is then applied to the resulting figure, and relief can reduce the bill to nothing in the smallest cases. The order matters, because reliefs are applied to the amount produced by the multiplication, not to the rateable value itself.

Take a shop with a rateable value of 20,000 pounds that is not RHL. It sits below 51,000 pounds, so the small business non-RHL multiplier of 43.2p applies. Step one: 20,000 multiplied by 0.432 gives 8,640 pounds a year before relief. Step two: because the rateable value is above 15,000 pounds, no Small Business Rate Relief applies, so the bill stays at 8,640 pounds before any other relief or supplement. If the same property were qualifying RHL property under 51,000 pounds, the small business RHL multiplier of 38.2p would apply instead, and 20,000 multiplied by 0.382 would give 7,640 pounds a year before relief. The difference between the two outcomes comes entirely from which of the five multipliers the property falls under.

Small Business Rate Relief

At the small end, Small Business Rate Relief is the relief that matters most. Where the rateable value is 12,000 pounds or below, the relief is 100 percent, so there is nothing to pay. Above that, the relief tapers on a sliding scale from 100 percent down to nil between 12,001 and 15,000 pounds. The taper means that a small increase in rateable value in that band produces a smaller increase in the bill than the headline multiplier alone would suggest, because part of the bill is still being relieved. The relief is generally available where the ratepayer occupies a single property, with limited exceptions for very small additional properties.

Above 15,000 pounds the relief stops, but the small business multiplier still applies up to 51,000 pounds, which is itself worth having. That is the point that is easy to miss. Even if you get no Small Business Rate Relief at all, occupying a property with a rateable value below 51,000 pounds means you are on the small business multiplier rather than the standard one, and on the non-RHL side that is 43.2p against 48.0p. The saving is built into the multiplier rather than into a relief, so it appears automatically in the calculation rather than as a separate line on the bill.

Rateable value and the 2026 revaluation

Rateable value is the Valuation Office Agency's estimate of the open market annual rent for the property at a fixed valuation date. It is not the rent you actually pay and it is not the price you paid for the property. For the 2026 rating list the valuation date is 1 April 2024, and the new values took effect on 1 April 2026 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Valuation Office Agency publishes rateable values, and the bill itself is issued by the local billing authority, which is the council.

A change in rateable value at revaluation changes the bill even when the multiplier falls, which is why some bills rise in a year when rates appear to be cut. The multiplier and the rateable value are two separate numbers multiplied together, and a large enough rise in one can outweigh a fall in the other. If the rateable value has gone up at the 2026 revaluation, the bill can increase even though the 2026/27 multipliers are lower than the 2025/26 pair. That is the mechanism behind the bills that look wrong at first glance, and it is why the rateable value on the notice is worth checking against the figure published by the Valuation Office Agency.

Transitional relief and bill caps

Transitional relief is the scheme that limits how fast a bill can rise after a revaluation. For 2026/27 the upward caps in England are 5 percent for small properties with a rateable value up to 20,000 pounds, 15 percent for medium properties from 20,001 to 100,000 pounds, and 30 percent for large properties above 100,000 pounds. These caps are applied before other reliefs and supplements, so the order of calculation matters. The cap limits the increase rather than the bill itself, and it works on the change from the previous bill rather than on the absolute amount.

Properties whose rateable values fell at the 2026 revaluation receive the full benefit of that reduction from 1 April 2026, so the cap does not hold a falling bill back. There is also the Supporting Small Business Scheme, which caps increases for businesses losing some or all of their small business or rural rate relief because of the 2026 revaluation. Under that scheme the increase is capped at the higher of 800 pounds a year or the relevant transitional relief percentage cap. The two schemes interact, and the one that produces the lower bill is the one that applies.

Where to check and who to contact

The rateable value is on the Valuation Office Agency's website, and the bill comes from the local billing authority, which is the council. Reliefs are usually applied by the council, and some must be claimed rather than granted automatically, so the bill is worth checking against the relief the property qualifies for. If the property is a single occupied property with a rateable value at or below 12,000 pounds, the bill should show 100 percent relief. If the rateable value is between 12,001 and 15,000 pounds, the bill should show tapered relief. If the rateable value is below 51,000 pounds, the bill should show the small business multiplier rather than the standard one.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run separate systems with their own multipliers and relief thresholds, so the five multipliers set out here and the relief figures set out here apply in England only. A property in Glasgow, Cardiff or Belfast is billed under a different set of numbers, and the England figures should not be used to check those bills. For an England property, the two documents to hold side by side are the Valuation Office Agency rateable value and the council bill, because the first feeds the second and any mismatch between them shows up in the amount you are asked to pay.

Source: GOV.UK: introduction to business rates.

Related coverage on Kael Tripton: Pubs and Music Venues Get 20% Business Rates Cut From 2027, Pubs Get a 20% Business Rates Cut From April 2027: What the £1,100 Saving Means, Buying or selling a small business in the UK: tax, TUPE, insurance and the due diligence checklist, Mobile Card Readers for Small Businesses: Cost, Connectivity and Limits, Stamp Duty on Commercial Property UK: SDLT Rates and Thresholds for 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How many business rates multipliers does England use in 2026/27?

England uses five multipliers from 1 April 2026: small business RHL at 38.2p, standard RHL at 43.0p, small business non-RHL at 43.2p, standard non-RHL at 48.0p, and a high value multiplier at 50.8p for any property with a rateable value of 500,000 pounds or above. In 2025/26 England had only two, a small business multiplier of 49.9p and a standard multiplier of 54.6p.

Which multiplier applies to a property with a rateable value under 51,000 pounds?

If the property is qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure property, the small business RHL multiplier of 38.2p applies. For all other property under 51,000 pounds, the small business non-RHL multiplier of 43.2p applies. The small business multiplier applies below 51,000 pounds even where Small Business Rate Relief does not.

When is there nothing to pay under Small Business Rate Relief?

Small Business Rate Relief gives 100 percent relief where the rateable value is 12,000 pounds or below, so there is nothing to pay. The relief tapers from 100 percent down to nil between 12,001 and 15,000 pounds. It is generally available where the ratepayer occupies a single property, with limited exceptions for very small additional properties.

Why can a bill rise when the multiplier falls?

The bill is the rateable value multiplied by the multiplier, so a change in rateable value at revaluation changes the bill even when the multiplier falls. The valuation date for the 2026 rating list is 1 April 2024, and the new values took effect on 1 April 2026. Transitional relief caps increases at 5 percent, 15 percent or 30 percent depending on rateable value band, applied before other reliefs and supplements.

Do these figures apply outside England?

No. The five-multiplier system, the RHL multipliers and the high value multiplier apply in England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland operate separate systems with their own multipliers and relief thresholds. The 2026 revaluation values took effect on 1 April 2026 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the multipliers and reliefs that sit on top of them are set separately.