rates-relief

---
name: rates-relief
description: Turns your rateable value, property use and occupation history into a dated business rates position for the 2026 to 2027 year in England: the current rateable value from the VOA's own register, a tested Small Business Rate Relief result, a tested Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier result, the transitional relief and Supporting Small Business Relief caps that apply, the Check Challenge Appeal route with real time limits if the valuation looks wrong, the empty property relief position if a second unit is vacant, and a dated summary for your accountant or rating surveyor to check. Use when a lease holding independent hospitality business in England, a cafe, restaurant, pub, bar or small hotel, wants to know which business rates reliefs it actually qualifies for right now.
---

# Every business rates relief you actually qualify for, dated to the 2026 to 2027 year

You give this the property address, the rateable value if you already know it or nothing if you do not, whether this is the only property the business occupies and the rateable value of any others, whether the unit has ever stood empty, and any relief you already claim. You get back the current rateable value from the VOA's own register with the date it took effect, a tested Small Business Rate Relief result, a tested Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier result, the transitional relief cap on this year's bill, the Check Challenge Appeal route with real time limits if the valuation looks wrong, and a dated summary for an accountant or chartered surveyor to check. It will not tell you what your rateable value should be, and it will not carry forward a relief figure from an earlier year, because business rates relief is reset at nearly every Budget and the scheme that applied in 2025 to 2026 does not exist in 2026 to 2027.

## What it does

1. **Fix the jurisdiction before reading a single threshold, because business rates is devolved and the numbers below apply to England only.** Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each run their own non-domestic rating system with their own thresholds and reliefs, set by Welsh Government, Scottish Government's Small Business Bonus Scheme, and Land and Property Services respectively. If the property is not in England, say so and stop: an English threshold applied to a Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish property is the wrong system, not a rounding error.

2. **Find the current rateable value from the VOA's own register, and record which rating list it comes from.** Look the property up on the VOA's find a business rates valuation service and record the rateable value, the local authority and the rating list it sits on. England moved to a new 2026 rating list from 1 April 2026, valued on rents as they stood at the antecedent valuation date of 1 April 2024. Record both the 2026 list figure and, where still available, the outgoing 2023 list figure, because the size of the change between the two decides whether transitional relief or Supporting Small Business Relief in step 6 is relevant. The rateable value is not the rent: it is the VOA's estimate of the open market rent the property might achieve at a fixed valuation date, set for rating purposes only, and it is easily confused with the rent actually paid under the lease because both are yearly figures on the same building. Do not report one as the other.

3. **Test Small Business Rate Relief against the thresholds that apply for 2026 to 2027.** A rateable value of £12,000 or less gets 100 per cent relief, provided it is the only property the business occupies. Between £12,001 and £15,000 the relief tapers down gradually to zero. A business with more than one property can still claim on its main property if none of the others has a rateable value above £2,899 and the combined rateable value of all of them is less than £20,000, or £28,000 in London. Record the exact rateable value, which band it falls into, and which test applies. These thresholds are unchanged from earlier years, but the multiplier the relief is applied against for 2026 to 2027 is 43.2 pence for a non-qualifying small business property, so record that too, because a relief band without the multiplier it applies to is not a bill.

4. **Test Retail, Hospitality and Leisure eligibility against the 2026 to 2027 scheme, and do not describe it as a discount, because it no longer is one.** For 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 this relief was a percentage knocked off the bill, most recently 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000. That scheme closed. New claims are not accepted, and from 1 April 2026 eligible properties are instead billed using permanently lower multipliers: 38.2 pence for a qualifying property under £51,000 rateable value, 43.0 pence for one between £51,000 and £499,999, against non-qualifying multipliers of 43.2 pence and 48.0 pence. There is no cash cap, because a multiplier is how the bill is worked out, not a grant. Eligibility is set by the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, whose guidance names this skill's audience directly: restaurants, takeaways, sandwich shops, coffee shops, cafes, pubs and bars all qualify as hospitality use, defined as premises wholly or mainly used for "sale of food and drink, or the provision of holiday or similar temporary accommodation" for visiting members of the public. Record whether the rateable value is under £500,000, whether the use matches that definition, and which multiplier should be on the bill.

5. **Check whether Small Business Rate Relief and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier can be claimed together, because they are not the same kind of relief.** The multiplier sets the rate per pound the bill is calculated with; Small Business Rate Relief is then applied as a percentage reduction to the bill that multiplier produces. A qualifying property at £12,000 rateable value is billed at the 38.2 pence small qualifying multiplier and then gets 100 per cent relief on top, bringing the bill to nil. Record both results side by side, and flag a bill that shows the standard multiplier on a property that passed step 4 as a billing error to raise with the council, not a relief the owner failed to claim.

6. **Check the transitional relief cap and, if the property lost relief at the 2026 revaluation, Supporting Small Business Relief.** Transitional relief limits how much a bill can rise in one year purely because of the revaluation, applied automatically. For 2026 to 2027 the cap is 5 per cent up to £20,000 rateable value, or £28,000 in London, 15 per cent for £20,001 to £100,000, and 30 per cent above £100,000. Where a business lost some or all of its Small Business Rate Relief, Rural Rate Relief, 40 per cent Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief, or a 2023 Supporting Small Business award because of the revaluation, the 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief scheme instead caps the increase at £800 a year or the transitional cap, whichever is greater, running to 2028 to 2029. Record which cap applies and whether the bill reflects it.

7. **If the rateable value looks wrong, run Check Challenge Appeal, and record the real time limits rather than a guessed one.** Check comes first: confirm or correct the property's own facts, and a Challenge cannot start until a Check is complete. Challenge, the formal disagreement decided by the Valuation Office, must normally start within 4 months of the Check decision, within 16 months of the Check submission if it concerns a change in the surrounding area such as roadworks, or, where the Valuation Office has not decided the Check after 12 months, on that basis. Appeal, to the independent Valuation Tribunal, follows a disputed Challenge decision or one undecided after 18 months. False information on a Check or Challenge can attract a penalty of £200 for a smaller business or £500 for others, unless reasonable care was taken, and a penalty can itself be appealed within 28 days. Record each stage's start date, the next deadline, and the evidence behind the owner's view before recommending a Challenge, because a Check can also raise the rateable value.

8. **Establish whether a backdated relief claim is realistic, and say plainly where the position is not settled by an official source.** Relief is administered by the local billing council, not centrally, and a claim can usually be backdated to when the property first met the criteria, provided it did so continuously. Neither gov.uk nor the VOA states a single published backdating limit for England, though many councils describe applying six years, reflecting the general limit for reclaiming an overpaid simple contract debt under the Limitation Act 1980 rather than a rule in the relief scheme itself. Record this as unconfirmed and refer the owner to their billing council in writing.

9. **Check the empty property relief angle if a second unit is vacant or the business is between tenancies.** An empty property gets full relief for the first 3 months, extended to 6 months in total for industrial premises. After that most businesses pay full rates. Relief continues until reoccupied for a listed building, a property with a rateable value under £2,900, a charity owned property whose next use will be mainly charitable, and a community amateur sports club building whose next use will be mainly for that club. Relief is claimed through the local council. Record the date the property became empty, the category and the date full liability resumes if no extension applies.

10. **Hand the structured facts to Codex and let it build the files, so no figure is retyped by a human.** Run:

    ```
    codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
    ```

    Claude hands over the rateable value with its effective date and rating list, the property's use, whether it is the sole property occupied and the rateable value of any others, the empty property history, any relief already claimed, and any Check or Challenge case already lodged. Codex returns the eligibility test for each relief with the dated threshold tested against, the transitional and Supporting Small Business Relief position, the Check Challenge Appeal deadlines, and a gaps register. Codex makes no judgement about whether to lodge a Challenge and writes no advice.

## Then it checks

1. The financial year the quoted rateable value, thresholds and multiplier figures apply to is stated explicitly, and it is 2026 to 2027, not an earlier year carried over unread.
2. The rateable value is recorded with the date it took effect and the rating list it comes from, read from the VOA's own record, not from a bill or a guess.
3. The Small Business Rate Relief result states which band the property falls in, 100 per cent, tapered, or none, with the exact thresholds it was tested against and their source.
4. The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure result states whether the property meets the qualifying use definition in the 2025 Regulations, names the multiplier it should be billed under, and does not describe the 2026 to 2027 position as a percentage discount.
5. Every deadline recorded for a Check, a Challenge or an Appeal is a real date calculated from a real event date supplied by the owner, not an estimate.
6. Jurisdiction is confirmed as England, and if the property is in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland the file stops and states that the English analysis does not apply.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state rent as a percentage of turnover, or any other unpublished benchmark, for a single independent UK venue. This skill tests published relief rules against the owner's own rateable value, not their rent, their costs or anyone else's figures, because no such benchmark is published for a single independent business and a borrowed one invites a wrong conclusion.
- Never present a relief percentage, threshold or multiplier without stating the financial year it applies to and the date it was read from an official source. Business rates relief is reset at nearly every Budget: the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief that was a 75 per cent discount in 2024 to 2025 and a 40 per cent discount capped at £110,000 in 2025 to 2026 is neither of those things in 2026 to 2027, and repeating last year's figure is worse than saying nothing.
- This skill covers England only. Business rates is a devolved and separate system in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, each with its own thresholds and its own relief scheme. If the property is not in England, say so and stop rather than applying an English rule to a different country's system.
- Never confuse the rateable value with the rent. The rateable value is the VOA's estimate of the open market rent the property might achieve at a fixed valuation date, set for rating purposes only. It is not the figure in the owner's lease, even though both are annual figures attached to the same building.
- Never treat Check Challenge Appeal as risk free. A Check can also raise the rateable value, and false information on a Check or Challenge carries a real penalty. Record the evidence behind the owner's view before recommending a Challenge.
- Never state a backdating time limit as settled where no primary gov.uk or VOA source states one. Record it as unconfirmed and refer the question to the billing council in writing.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's own accountant or a chartered rating surveyor to check. It applies published VOA and government rules to the owner's own facts. It is not a valuation, it is not a guarantee that any relief will be granted, and it is not a substitute for professional advice on a specific rates bill.

## Built from
- GOV.UK, "How to challenge your business rates valuation" (collection), https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-challenge-your-business-rates-valuation, updated 10 October 2025, read 23 September 2026: the Check, Challenge and Appeal stages, step 7.
- GOV.UK, "Challenge the valuation", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/challenge-the-valuation, updated 9 July 2026, read 23 September 2026: the 4, 16 and 12 month Challenge deadlines, step 7.
- GOV.UK, "Check and challenge your business rates valuation: penalties", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-and-challenge-your-business-rates-valuation-penalties, updated 1 April 2025, read 23 September 2026: the £200 and £500 penalties and the 28 day appeal deadline, step 7.
- GOV.UK, "Business rates relief: Small business rate relief", https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/small-business-rate-relief, figures stated as applying from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, read 23 September 2026: the £12,000 and £15,000 thresholds, the property tests and the 43.2 pence multiplier, step 3.
- GOV.UK, "Help with the 2026 business rates revaluation", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-with-the-2026-business-rates-revaluation, updated 1 April 2026, read 23 September 2026: the 2026 rating list and the 1 April 2024 antecedent valuation date, step 2.
- GOV.UK, "2/2026: Notification of Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers for 2026/27", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/22026-notification-of-non-domestic-rating-multipliers-for-202627/22026-notification-of-non-domestic-rating-multipliers-for-202627, published 10 February 2026, read 23 September 2026: the five 2026 to 2027 multiplier figures, steps 3 and 4.
- GOV.UK, "Business rates multipliers: qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure, published 16 October 2025, updated 30 March 2026, read 23 September 2026: the qualifying purposes wording naming restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars, and the £500,000 threshold, step 4.
- GOV.UK, "Business rates relief: Retail, hospitality and leisure relief", https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/retail-discount, read 23 September 2026: confirmation the old percentage scheme is closed and multipliers replace it from 1 April 2026, step 4.
- The Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/1093, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/1093/contents/made, read 23 September 2026: the statutory definition of a qualifying hereditament, step 4.
- GOV.UK, "Business rates relief: Transitional relief", https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/transitional-relief, read 23 September 2026: the 5, 15 and 30 per cent 2026 to 2027 caps, step 6.
- GOV.UK, "Business Rates Relief: 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief, local authority guidance", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/business-rates-relief-2026-supporting-small-business-relief-local-authority-guidance/business-rates-relief-2026-supporting-small-business-relief-local-authority-guidance, updated 26 May 2026, read 23 September 2026: the £800 or transitional cap rule to 2028 to 2029, step 6.
- GOV.UK, "Business rates relief: Empty property relief", https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/empty-property-relief, read 23 September 2026: the 3 and 6 month periods and the four listed extensions, step 9.
- Local Government Finance Act 1988, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/41/contents, read 23 September 2026: the statutory basis for non-domestic rating, rateable value, multipliers and small business relief, cited as background.

# rates-relief

## You are given
One property occupied under a commercial lease by a UK independent hospitality business in England: the property address and local authority, the rateable value as read from the VOA's current 2026 rating list with its effective date, the outgoing 2023 list rateable value where it was supplied for comparison, the business's use as recorded or described, such as restaurant, cafe, pub, bar or small hotel. Whether this is the only property the business occupies and, if not, the rateable value of every other property occupied. Whether the property has ever stood empty, the date it became empty where relevant, and whether it is an industrial premises, a listed building, owned by a charity or by a community amateur sports club. Any relief the business already claims or has been told it receives. Any Check or Challenge case already lodged with the Valuation Office, with its reference and the date each stage started. All judgement calls, including whether to lodge a Check or a Challenge, whether to instruct a rating surveyor, and which figures to accept from the owner as correct, have already been made by the owner and are supplied to you.

## Produce
Write into a `./rates-relief-output/` folder:

1. `rateable-value-record.csv` with columns in this order: `property_ref`, `address`, `local_authority`, `rating_list`, `effective_date`, `rateable_value_gbp`, `previous_list_rateable_value_gbp`, `change_percent`, `use_description`, `date_checked`. `rating_list` is exactly one of `2026 list`, `2023 list`. `change_percent` is left empty where `previous_list_rateable_value_gbp` was not supplied, and that row is then listed in `gaps.md`.
2. `sbrr-eligibility-test.csv` with columns: `property_ref`, `rateable_value_gbp`, `sole_property`, `other_property_ref`, `other_property_rateable_value_gbp`, `combined_rateable_value_gbp`, `threshold_full_relief_gbp`, `threshold_taper_upper_gbp`, `relief_band`, `eligible`. `sole_property` is `yes` or `no`. `relief_band` is exactly one of `100 percent`, `tapered`, `none`. `eligible` is `yes` or `no`. One row per other property occupied, or a single row with `other_property_ref` empty where none was supplied.
3. `rhl-multiplier-test.csv` with columns: `property_ref`, `rateable_value_gbp`, `use_description_verbatim`, `qualifying_purpose_matched`, `rateable_value_band`, `multiplier_if_qualifying_pence`, `multiplier_if_not_qualifying_pence`, `eligible`, `billed_multiplier_on_supplied_bill_pence`, `billing_flag`. `rateable_value_band` is exactly one of `under 51000`, `51000 to 499999`, `500000 or more`. `eligible` is `yes`, `no` or `not clear from information supplied`. `billing_flag` reads `matches expected multiplier`, `does not match expected multiplier` or `no bill supplied`, and any row reading `does not match expected multiplier` is listed in `gaps.md`.
4. `transitional-and-ssb-relief.csv` with columns: `property_ref`, `rateable_value_gbp`, `transitional_band`, `transitional_cap_percent_2026_27`, `lost_relief_at_revaluation`, `ssb_2026_applicable`, `ssb_cap_gbp_or_percent`, `automatic`. `lost_relief_at_revaluation` and `ssb_2026_applicable` and `automatic` are each `yes`, `no` or `not clear from information supplied`.
5. `check-challenge-appeal-log.csv` with columns: `property_ref`, `stage`, `date_started`, `date_of_decision`, `basis_for_next_deadline`, `next_deadline`, `status`. `stage` is exactly one of `check`, `challenge`, `appeal`. `basis_for_next_deadline` is exactly one of `4 months from check decision`, `16 months from check submission, change in surrounding area`, `12 months from check submission, no decision`, `18 months from challenge submission, no decision`, `not applicable, no case lodged`. Every `next_deadline` is calculated only from a `date_started` or `date_of_decision` actually supplied. Where no case has been lodged, one row records `status` as `not started` and every date column is left empty.
6. `empty-property-relief-test.csv` with columns: `property_ref`, `currently_empty`, `date_became_empty`, `property_category`, `relief_period_months_or_until_reoccupied`, `full_liability_resumes_date`. `property_category` is exactly one of `standard`, `industrial`, `listed building`, `rateable value under 2900`, `charity owned`, `community amateur sports club`, `not applicable`. `full_liability_resumes_date` is left empty where the category gives relief until reoccupied, and is calculated only where a `date_became_empty` was supplied.
7. `reliefs-summary.csv` with columns: `property_ref`, `relief_name`, `applies`, `financial_year`, `basis_or_rate`, `source_document`, `source_date`. One row per relief tested above. `applies` is `yes`, `no` or `not clear from information supplied`. `financial_year` is always stated as `2026 to 2027` or the specific year a figure was read for.
8. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every property with no `previous_list_rateable_value_gbp` supplied; every RHL test reading `not clear from information supplied`; every billing flag reading `does not match expected multiplier`; every Check, Challenge or Appeal stage with a `date_started` but no way to calculate a `next_deadline`; every empty property row with `currently_empty` yes but no `date_became_empty`; and any figure the owner supplied without a date.

## Rules
- Codex tests, dates and records. It never lodges a Check or a Challenge, never estimates a rateable value, never estimates a relief percentage, a multiplier or a threshold that was not supplied with a dated source, and never decides whether a Challenge is worth starting. Those were supplied or are the owner's decision.
- Never estimate a rateable value. A property with no supplied VOA figure has an empty `rateable_value_gbp` cell and a line in `gaps.md`. Never look one up or infer one from the property's size or type.
- Never write a relief percentage, threshold or multiplier into any file unless it was supplied to you with the financial year it applies to. Do not carry forward a figure from an earlier year, and do not assume a 2025 to 2026 figure still applies in 2026 to 2027.
- Never mark an RHL or SBRR test `eligible: yes` from the use description alone if the description is ambiguous. Only a use description matching a supplied qualifying category supports `yes`. Everything else is `not clear from information supplied`.
- Never calculate a Check, Challenge or Appeal deadline from an assumed date. A deadline is calculated only from a `date_started` or `date_of_decision` actually supplied, using the basis named in the `basis_for_next_deadline` column.
- Never write a backdating time limit into any file as a settled fact. If the owner has not supplied one confirmed with their billing council, record `not confirmed with billing council` in `gaps.md` rather than a number.
- Never write a rent figure, a rent per square foot figure, or any comparison between this property's rates and another business's rates into any file. That comparison is out of scope for this skill.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every quoted use description, address and case reference is copied exactly, including its punctuation and capitalisation.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own VOA and council correspondence, and for their accountant or a chartered rating surveyor to check before any claim, Check or Challenge is submitted. It applies supplied facts to published relief rules and is not a ruling that any relief applies or that any valuation is right or wrong.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the rateable value and rating list recorded for the property, the Small Business Rate Relief band and whether it is eligible, the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure eligibility result and which multiplier it names, the transitional relief and Supporting Small Business Relief position, the count of Check, Challenge or Appeal deadlines calculated and the earliest one outstanding, the empty property relief category and date full liability resumes where applicable, and the `gaps.md` item count.