Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of planned business rates reforms on the wholesale sector; and if she will consider extending retail-equivalent reliefs to wholesalers.

The Government currently provides a 40 per cent business rates relief for eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business, in 2025-26. Eligibility for the RHL relief scheme is outlined in guidance published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, and is focused on RHL properties that are wholly or mainly open to visiting members of the public. This is to ensure that support is targeted at in-person RHL, thereby helping to rebalance the burden between online and high-street retailers. There are no plans to expand the scope of this relief.

From 2026/27, the Government is introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with rateable values (RVs) below £500,000. Details on which RHL properties will qualify for these lower multipliers can be found online here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure.

To fund these lower RHL multipliers sustainably, from 2026/27, the Government is also introducing a higher multiplier on properties with RVs of £500,000 and above.