New Rating Bill 2024: Changes to Multipliers and Charitable Relief for Private Schools
In October’s Autumn Budget the Chancellor outlined proposed changes to the multipliers for 2026/27. The Government has now tabled a new bill to legislate for these additional multipliers and to provide for the removal of charitable relief from private schools starting in April 2025. The bill was introduced on 13 November and the Second Reading, which is the first opportunity that MPs will have to debate these provisions, has already been scheduled for 25 November.
In this update:
- UBR Multipliers for properties in England from 2026
- Legislating to remove Charitable Relief for Private Schools
UBR Multipliers for properties in England from 2026
At the Budget, the standard and small multipliers for 2025/26 were confirmed as follows:
The Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill provides for two new multipliers from April 2026 for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties. It stipulates that these must be no lower than 20p below the small multiplier for the year in question.
A revaluation is due in April 2026, which is likely to lead to changes to the UBRs in 2026/27 as the revaluation is intended to be fiscally neutral in real terms. For comparative purposes, based on the 2025/26 multiplier of 49.9p the maximum 20p discount would be equivalent to a 40% discount from 49.9p. This reflects a similar discount to that intended for the RHL relief scheme in 2025/26.
As stated in the Government’s discussion paper, Transforming Business Rates, issued alongside the Budget, the intention for 2026/27 is for the two lower multipliers to be applied to retail, hospitality and leisure properties with assessments below Rateable Value (RV) £500,000: one for properties with an assessment of below RV £51,000, and another for those with an assessment of between RV £51,000 and RV £499,999. The Bill does appear to allow for some flexibility on the RV thresholds which will be a policy decision and subject to regulations.
The Bill also provides for higher multipliers for properties with an assessment of RV £500,000 or more, which may be no more than 10p higher than the standard non-domestic rating multiplier for the year in question. Based on 55.5p for 2025/26, a 10p supplement would equate to approximately 20%. While there may only be two lower multipliers, the explanatory notes to the Bill confirm that there will be no limit to the number of higher multipliers. This again allows for some flexibility in the Government’s policy, which we welcome. In theory, at least, it would be possible for different multiplier supplements to be applied to different property uses.
During the Budget discussion, it was explained that the additional revenue generated from the supplements is intended to compensate for the revenue loss from UBR reductions, the Bill does not propose that this will be a statutory requirement, which may allow for some flexibility.
Legislating to remove Charitable Relief for Private Schools
The Bill also follows up on the Government’s intention to remove the Charitable Relief from most private (independent) schools from 1 April 2025.
This is covered under clause 5 of the Bill which aims to remove the relief from premises ’used wholly or mainly for the purposes of carrying on a private school’.
The definition of ‘private school’ in the Bill excludes nursery schools and institutions which are ‘wholly or mainly concerned with providing full-time education to pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan)’ which will remain eligible for the relief.
Andrew Altman, our business rates expert for independent schools has published further insights on the impacts of these changes for schools. Read here >
We are, as always, here to discuss any specific issues regarding your properties, and we will continue to keep you informed of further developments regarding business rates across the UK.
