Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of her Department's plan to introduce a higher multiplier on properties with rateable value of £500,000 and above on the food and drink wholesale sector.

To deliver our manifesto pledge, from April 2026, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values (RVs) below £500,000.

This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we also intend to introduce a higher rate on the most valuable properties from April 2026 - those with RVs of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has published data on properties with RVs above £500,000 based on the previous valuation, broken down by sector online here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-domestic-rating-property-counts-and-rateable-value-rv-for-properties-in-england-with-rv-over-500000

Every three years, all commercial properties are revalued by the VOA. The 2026 revaluation, which will take effect from April 2026, will update RVs and may, therefore, affect which businesses are within scope of the new higher rate. The revaluation process is ongoing. The VOA are required to publish a draft of all properties’ new RVs this year.

The rates for these new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context. When the new multipliers are set, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the expected effects of the new multiplier arrangements.