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England gives hospitality properties a lower business rates multiplier for 2026/27. Scotland and Wales cut the bill by a set percentage, and Northern Ireland runs no hospitality-specific scheme this year.
Published 7 November 2026
All articlesFrom 1 April 2026, qualifying hospitality properties in England pay a lower business rates multiplier. A property with a rateable value below £51,000 pays the small business hospitality multiplier of 38.2p in the pound, against 43.2p for other small businesses. Above that threshold, a qualifying hospitality property pays the standard hospitality multiplier of 43.0p, against 48.0p for other standard properties. A property with a rateable value of £500,000 or more pays 50.8p. This replaced the 40% Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief that ran from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, capped at £110,000 per business.
A business using one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less pays no rates at all, under small business rate relief, with the relief tapering to nothing by £15,000. That relief runs alongside the hospitality multiplier.
Scotland cuts the bill by a set percentage instead of changing the multiplier. For 2026-27 to 2028-29, a mainland property with a rateable value of £100,000 or less gets 15% off its bill for non-licensed retail and leisure use, or 40% off for a licensed hospitality premises or a music venue. The relief is capped at £110,000 per business a year, and a property above £100,000 rateable value gets none of it.
Properties on the islands and in prescribed remote rural areas, including Cape Wrath, Knoydart and Scoraig, get 100% relief for the same three years, under the same £110,000 cash cap. Scotland's separate Small Business Bonus Scheme gives 100% relief up to a rateable value of £12,000, tapering to nothing by £20,000, or a combined £35,000 for a business with more than one property, with each property capped at £20,000 rateable value on its own.
Wales runs the Food and Drink Hospitality Rates Relief for 2026-27: 15% off the bill for pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars and live music venues, and other properties wholly or mainly used to sell food or drink to visiting members of the public. It runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, capped at £110,000 across every property the same business occupies in Wales. A ratepayer applies to its local authority, by 31 March 2027 at the latest, to get it backdated for 2026-27; it is not given automatically the way England's and Scotland's reliefs are.
The Welsh Government announced on 15 September 2026 that this 15% relief will be replaced by a permanent 30% cut to bills, for eligible hospitality, leisure and retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000, funded by a small rise to the multiplier charged on the highest-value properties in Wales. Regulations for that change are due in autumn 2026 and need Senedd approval before they take effect on 1 April 2027; it is not law yet.
Northern Ireland has no equivalent of England's lower multiplier, Scotland's 40% licensed hospitality relief or Wales's 15% food and drink relief. The only rates support running in 2026/27 is Small Business Rate Relief, which applies by net annual value to every sector in the same way: 50% off a property valued at £2,000 or less, 25% between £2,001 and £5,000, and 20% between £5,001 and £15,000. It was extended to 31 March 2027 alongside the Back in Business and rural ATM schemes. A pub or restaurant above £15,000 net annual value gets no relief at all.
The Finance Minister has set aside £10 million that could extend support to the hospitality sector for 2026/27. That spending is pending a public consultation and has not been turned into a scheme, so every hospitality business in Northern Ireland should plan on Small Business Rate Relief only.
An example: a licensed restaurant with a rateable value of £40,000 in England pays the small business hospitality multiplier of 38.2p, since its rateable value is below £51,000, for a bill of £15,280. At the ordinary small business multiplier of 43.2p the same property would pay £17,280, so the hospitality multiplier is worth £2,000 a year, 11.6% of the higher figure. The same restaurant in Scotland sits inside the £100,000 cap for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief and gets 40% off its bill before Scotland's own multiplier is applied. The two nations set their own multipliers separately, so the cash saving is not identical in pounds even though the percentage cut is bigger.
We check the rateable value or net annual value for every venue you trade from, work out which relief or multiplier applies in each nation, and put the net rates bill into your monthly figures. See business rates and costs, read the detail on England's 2026/27 multipliers, or get a fixed monthly quote.
No. The 40% rate applies only to a licensed hospitality premises or a music venue, on a mainland property with a rateable value of £100,000 or less, for 2026-27 to 2028-29. An unlicensed café or sandwich bar gets the lower 15% non-licensed retail and leisure rate instead, on the same rateable value cap. Both rates are capped at £110,000 of relief for the whole business each year. A premises above £100,000 rateable value gets neither rate, unlike England's hospitality multiplier, which still applies to properties below £500,000. Source: mygov.scot, non-domestic rates reliefs available.
No. Northern Ireland runs a single business rates multiplier with no reduced rate for hospitality, retail or leisure. The only relief running in 2026/27 is Small Business Rate Relief, applied by net annual value to every sector in the same way: 50% off a property valued at £2,000 or less, 25% between £2,001 and £5,000, and 20% between £5,001 and £15,000. A restaurant or hotel with a net annual value above £15,000 pays the full rate with no reduction, where the same-sized property in England, Scotland or Wales would carry a hospitality-specific cut. Source: nibusinessinfo.co.uk, rate support schemes extended for 2026-27.
Because the Finance Minister has set aside money that could fund one, if a consultation now under way leads to a scheme. The Department of Finance has earmarked £10 million that could extend rate support to the hospitality sector for 2026/27, but nothing has been turned into a scheme yet. Hospitality businesses in Northern Ireland should plan on Small Business Rate Relief only, by net annual value, for 2026/27. Source: finance-ni.gov.uk, Finance Minister backs local businesses by extending rate support schemes.
£110,000 across every property the same business occupies in Wales, not £110,000 per venue. A group running four pubs applies the cap once, across the whole business, in the same way as the equivalent caps in England and Scotland. A single large property with a remaining liability above £733,333 after other reliefs can use the whole £110,000 allocation by itself. The relief covers pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars and live music venues wholly or mainly selling food or drink to visiting members of the public. Source: Business Wales, Food and Drink Hospitality Rates Relief 2026-27.
No. It was announced by the Welsh Government on 15 September 2026 and is not law. Regulations are due to be brought forward in autumn 2026 and need Senedd approval before the 30% cut, for eligible hospitality, leisure and retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000, can start on 1 April 2027. Until then, the relief running in Wales is the 15% Food and Drink Hospitality Rates Relief for 2026-27. Plan for 15% this year and treat 30% as a change to build into next year's budget once the regulations are confirmed, not before. Source: gov.wales, 30% business rates cut for high street hospitality and leisure venues.
31 March 2027, to your local authority, for relief that can be backdated to 1 April 2026. Wales's Food and Drink Hospitality Rates Relief for 2026-27 is not applied automatically, unlike England's and Scotland's hospitality reliefs: a ratepayer has to apply, and the relief is granted business by business up to the £110,000 cash cap. Applying early in the rating year keeps the full year's relief available, because some local authorities allocate their own funding during the year. Source: Business Wales, Food and Drink Hospitality Rates Relief 2026-27.
No. The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief, including the 40% rate for licensed hospitality premises and music venues, applies only to mainland properties with a rateable value of £100,000 or less. A hotel or restaurant valued above that gets none of this relief. It could still qualify for the separate Small Business Bonus Scheme, which runs on its own lower rateable value bands up to £20,000, well under the £100,000 cap. The 100% relief for properties on the islands and in remote rural areas such as Cape Wrath, Knoydart and Scoraig uses the same £100,000 test. Source: mygov.scot, non-domestic rates reliefs available.
In England, a £40,000 rateable value restaurant pays the small business hospitality multiplier of 38.2p, since its rateable value is below £51,000: a bill of £15,280, £2,000 less than the £17,280 it would pay at the ordinary small business multiplier of 43.2p. In Scotland, the same £40,000 rateable value sits inside the £100,000 cap for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief, so a licensed restaurant gets 40% off its bill before the multiplier is applied, a bigger percentage cut than England's 11.6%. The two nations set their own multipliers separately, so the cash saving is not identical in pounds even though the percentage cut is bigger. Source: GOV.UK, business rates multipliers 2026/27; mygov.scot, non-domestic rates reliefs available.
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