Business Rates: what changes in April 2026?

17 Feb 2026

Business rates are one of the biggest fixed costs for organisations that occupy commercial property. From 1 April 2026 the way that business rates are calculated, and reliefs are applied, is changing.

How Business Rates are calculated - the basics

Your business rates bill is calculated using three key elements:

1. Rateable Value (RV). Every property has a valuation by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) based on a hypothetical rental amount. Factors affecting this include rentals for similar properties in your area and what the property is used for.

2. Multiplier. This is a figure set by central government and applied nationally. You multiply your RV by the multiplier (expressed in “pence in the pound”) to get your “gross” business rates bill.

3. Reliefs & Reductions. Once you have the gross amount, you subtract any reliefs for which you qualify

Rates Bill = Rateable Value × Multiplier − Reliefs

What’s changing from April 2026

The government has overhauled business rates ahead of the 2026 revaluation. The main changes are:

1. Revaluation of Rateable Values

The national Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has reviewed all commercial property valuations based on rental market conditions at April 2024. Any challenge on an individual valuation is done through the VOA, and not Sheffield City Council.

2. New Multipliers

currently (2025/26) there is a standard multiplier and a small business multiplier. From April 2026, the system expands to five multipliers based on both property use and rateable value. There will now be separate multipliers for

RHL (Retail, Hospitality and Leisure) businesses

Small businesses (Rateable Value < £51,000)

Standard business (Rateable value £51,000 to £499,999):

Category	Current (2025/26)	From April 2026
Small business (non-RHL)	49.9p	43.2p
Standard (non-RHL)	55.5p	48.0p
Small RHL	Not separated	38.2p
Standard RHL	Not separated	43.0p
High-value (all properties ≥£500k	Not separated	50.8p

3. Reliefs

From 1 April 2026, whilst some of the existing reliefs (Small Business Rates Relief, Charitable Rate Relief, Rural Rate Relief) remain in place there are some changes:

The previous 40% Retail, Hospitality & Leisure (RHL) Relief ends on 31 March 2026 and is no longer available from April 2026.

RHL properties will instead be supported through new, permanently lower RHL multipliers as listed in the table above, applied automatically based on rateable value and property use.

Supporting Small Business Relief (SSBR) continues but operates under new guidance, which caps annual increases for eligible businesses.

Transitional Relief applies for three years (2026–29) to protect businesses facing large increases in bills.

For full details, businesses should refer to the following official guidance:

Supporting Small Business Relief (2026 scheme)
https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/supporting-small-business-relief

Transitional Relief (2026–29)
https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/transitional-relief

General business rates guidance
https://www.gov.uk/introduction-to-business-rates

Next steps to estimate your bill

Check what your Rateable Value will be from April 2026. See VOA link at end of article.

Check the multiplier from the multiplier table above.

Check eligibility for reliefs. Some are applied automatically by the council, but not all, see their website for details.

If your business rates bill looks like it will rise significantly then you may be helped by the cap set with Transitional Relief.

Summary

There will be new Rateable Values for most commercial properties from 1 April 2026
These Rateable Values will be used with new multipliers, with new, separate ones for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business

Increases will be capped through a Transitional Relief mechanism

Our Business Sheffield advisors are here to support in planning for these changes. For free no-obligation advice on this, or any other business issue, please contact us.