Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2025 to Question 30146 on Business Rates, what estimate she has made of the change in overall cost of the retail, hospitality and leisure relief scheme without a cash cap.

Without any Government intervention, retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government has decided to offer a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025-26.

To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026-27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000. Whereas RHL relief currently limits support to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, the Government intends to have no such limit on the new multipliers in order to better ensure more widespread support for the high street.

The Government will confirm the rates for the new multipliers at Budget 2025, taking account of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation as well as the broader economic and fiscal context.

Tax policy and legislation is not subject to the Better Regulation Framework Guidance which requires an Impact Assessment to accompany policy decisions. Nevertheless, when the new, permanently lower tax rates are set at Budget 2025, the Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.