Mandatory rate relief

Rate relief is a reduction from the council on your business rates bill. The amount of rate relief depends on the type of organisation or business. 

Relief is available to:

• charities and community sports clubs
• rural post offices, general stores, food shops, pubs and petrol stations
• small businesses which are defined by the rateable value(s) of the properties they occupy. The rateable value of your property is set by the Valuation Office Agency. We use this value to work out your business rates bill.

If you want to claim small business rate relief, go to our small business rate relief page.

The council offers some discretionary reliefs for charities, not-for-profit organisations and rural businesses. These reliefs can also 'top up' a mandatory relief so that you pay no business rates.

A separate application is required for each rating assessment. This is because relief is linked to the use of the property.

A new application is required each year. We may ask applicants to self certify if their circumstances have changed from those in their original application.

The following pages state the organisations that can receive mandatory and/or discretionary rate relief. They state the criteria that need to be satisfied to receive the relief.