Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate has been made of the number of (a) retail, (b) hospitality and (c) leisure hereditaments ineligible for the retail, hospitality and leisure business rate relief under the £110,000 cap per business.

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief has been extended year-by-year by previous Governments since the pandemic – creating uncertainty for businesses and an unsustainable fiscal pressure for the Government.

Without any Government intervention, the RHL relief scheme would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government decided to provide a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025/26, ahead of permanently lower rates for RHL properties from 2026/27. Like all business rates multipliers, these lower RHL multipliers will not be subject to a cash cap. This permanent tax cut will ensure that RHL businesses benefit from much-needed certainty and support.

Tax policy and legislation is not subject to the Better Regulation Framework Guidance, which requires an Impact Assessment to accompany policy decisions. Nevertheless, when the new multipliers are set at Budget 2025, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.