Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her plans for business rates reform on grassroots music venues.

As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values (RVs) below £500,000, including grassroots music venues, from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government intends to sustainably fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on all properties with RVs of £500,000 and above.

When the new multipliers are set, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.

In the interim period, for 2025-26, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40% up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business.

The Transforming Business Rates: Interim Report, published on 11 September, brings together extensive feedback from a broad range of stakeholders and outlines the Government’s next steps to deliver a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century.

The Government will provide a further update at the Budget. Transforming the business rates system is a multi-year process. The Government will consider reforms beyond Budget 2025, and any reforms taken forward will be phased over the course of the Parliament.