Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the effectiveness of existing support schemes, including the Supporting Small Business scheme, is being evaluated in relation to businesses that have lost eligibility for Rural Rate Relief following revaluation.

Rural Rate Relief (RRR) provides 100 per cent business rates relief for certain properties that are based in eligible rural areas with populations below 3,000.

At the Budget, the Valuation Office announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.

In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. This includes the Supporting Small Business scheme, which supports ratepayers who have lost eligibility for certain reliefs, including RRR. This means most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15% or less in 2026/27, or £800 for the smallest.

More broadly, the Government has introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. The Government has also introduced a 1-year 15 per cent relief for all pubs and live music venues in 2026/27, on top of the existing support package announced at the Budget. For the following two years, their bills will be frozen in real terms.

Around a third of properties pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR), with an additional 85,000 benefitting from reduced bills as this relief tapers. At the Budget, the Government introduced an additional two years of SBRR for businesses expanding into a second property to support small businesses to grow and expand.