Discounts and relief

Advice on claiming these discounts is available free from us. You do not need to employ expensive rating advisors who will usually charge a percentage of any reduction they may secure for you, and in some cases could end up increasing your rates bill.

Pubs and live music venues relief

From 1 April 2026, occupied properties used wholly or mainly as a pub or live music venue can receive a 15% reduction in 2026 to 2027 on top of any other support. Their bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further two years.

Pubs

Relief will be awarded where the property has the characteristics that mean it would be classed as a pub and meets all of the following:

  • is open to the general public,
  • allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided
  • allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed
  • permits drinks to be purchased at a bar

For this purpose, the meaning of pub does not include:

  • restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, snack bars
  • hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses
  • sporting venues
  • festival sites, theatres, concert halls, cinemas
  • museums, exhibition halls
  • casinos

This list of exclusions is not exhaustive. The council will decide in cases where eligibility is unclear.

Live music venues

Live music venues are properties that:

  • are wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience
  • can be used for other activities but only if those other activities are:
    • ancillary or incidental to the performance of live music (for example, the sale of food or drink to audience members)
    • do not affect the primary use of the premises for the performance of live music (for example, because the activities are infrequent such as the use of the venue as a polling station or fortnightly community event)

Properties are not a live music venue for this purpose if the property is wholly or mainly used as a nightclub or a theatre.

Using the information we hold, if you qualify for the discount it will be automatically added to your account and will show on your 2026/27 Annual Bill. If having read the full guidance on the GOV.UK website you feel that you qualify for the discount, but it has not been applied to your bill, please contact us at businessrates@epsom-ewell.gov.uk.

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council's full scheme details including subsidy control can be found here

Retail Hospitality & Leisure properties from 01 April 2026

From 1 April 2026 the previous retail, hospitality and leisure discount no longer applies and has been replaced by lower multipliers that apply to eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) use properties. For information on the multipliers visit GOV.UK - Calculate your business rates.

Eligibility for the lower multipliers is set by government and is separate to the previous discount schemes. For details on retail, hospitality and leisure businesses eligible for the RHL multipliers see government guidance and regulations:

GOV.UK: Guidance on business rates multipliers - qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure
Legislation: The non-domestic rating (definition of qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure hereditament) regulations 2025

The multiplier used to calculate your bill is shown in the calculation details on your bill. If you are an eligible retail, hospitality and leisure business with the majority of the rated property used for retail, hospitality or leisure use to visiting members of the public and an RHL multiplier has not been used to calculate your bill please notify us by emailing businessrates@epsom-ewell.gov.uk 

Retail Hospitality & Leisure (RHL) Discount for previous years

In 2025/26 a 40% RHL discount (to be applied after mandatory reliefs and other discretionary reliefs) was available for qualifying properties, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business. Where a business has a qualifying connection with another business it will be treated as one for the purposes of this cash cap.

Full details of the scheme can be found on the GOV.UK website

Using the information we hold, if you qualified for the discount it was automatically added to your account and shown on your 2025/26 Annual Bill. If the the discount was applied to your bill and you would like it removed please contact us at businessrates@epsom-ewell.gov.uk and we will remove the discount and issue a revised notice.

If having read the full guidance on the GOV.UK website you feel that you should have qualified for the discount, but it has not been applied to your bill, please contact us at businessrates@epsom-ewell.gov.uk.

Any discount awarded under this scheme would come under the scope of Subsidy control regulations. Please see our Subsidy Allowances page for details.

Please note this discount was only applicable to occupied properties from 01 April 2025 to 31 March 2026

Supporting small businesses relief (SSB26)

This scheme which will run for Three years, supports ratepayers who lost all or part of their small business rate relief following the 20236 revaluation or received the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Discount in 2025/26 . If you qualify for this relief, it will be automatically granted and shown on you latest bill bill will be issued to you.

If you received supporting small business relief in 2025 to 2026, any eligibility to the 2026 supporting small business rate relief will apply in 2026 to 2027 only and will end on 31 March 2027. The 2025 to 2026 reduction was under the previous supporting small business rate relief scheme, following the 2023 revaluation, shown as 'Supporting Small Business' on your 2025 to 2026 bill.

Other eligible ratepayers remain in the scheme for either 3 years or until they reach the bill they would have paid without the scheme.

Eligibility will be lost if the property becomes unoccupied or is occupied by a charity or community amateur sports club.

Full details of the scheme are available in from the GOV.UK website

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council's full scheme details including subsidy control can be found here

Any award of this relief would come under the scope of State Aid and/or Subsidy Allowances. Please see our Subsidy Allowances page for details.

Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)

SBRR is available at 100% for ratepayers occupying single properties with a rateable value up to £12,000. Ratepayers with a rateable value over £12,000, but under £15,000, will receive tapered relief from 100% decreasing to 0%.

The relief is only available to ratepayers with either:
(a) one property, or
(b) one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have rateable values less than £2,900.
The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all properties mentioned in (b), must be under £20,000.

If you receive small business rate relief and take on a further property after 27 November 2025 that would stop eligibility, you may be able to keep the relief on the existing property for a further 3 years. Where a further property was taken on before 27 November 2025 the further relief on the existing property is for 1 year.

A condition of entitlement to SBRR will be that the ratepayer must notify us of any changes in circumstances, that may affect their entitlement to the relief, within four weeks of the day after the change occurred. This can include:

  • Increases in rateable value of a property occupied by the ratepayer which is not in the area of the billing authority granting Small Business Rate Relief
  • The ratepayer coming into occupation of any property not mentioned in their application for relief (a new application form will need to be completed).

If these changes result in the ratepayer being no longer eligible for SBRR, it will end from the date of change. If relief is still applicable, it will be reassessed and granted.

If the ratepayer however, is still eligible for relief but did not notify the us of the changes within four weeks from the day following the date of change, relief will not be granted between the date of change and the date the ratepayer notifies us in writing.

For further information or to apply Small Business Rate Relief please complete our SBRR Application Form and e-mail it to businessrates@epsom-ewell.gov.uk.

Rate relief for charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs)

  • Occupied properties

Where a non-domestic property is occupied by a charity (or trustees for a charity), and is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes, the charity or trustees are entitled to mandatory rate relief of 80% of the full rate bill or of the transitional bill where the transitional arrangements apply.

Clubs registered with the Inland Revenue Sports Club Unit as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) are entitled to the same rate relief as charities.

  • Unoccupied properties

Mandatory relief may also be granted in respect of unoccupied properties. Where the ratepayer is a charity or trustees of a charity and it appears that when next in use the property will be wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes (whether of that charity or of that and other charities), the property is exempt from business rates.

The question of whether an organisation is a charity or not, is usually resolved by reference to the register of charities maintained by the Charity Commissioners. Absence from the register does not mean that an organisation is not a charity, because it may be excepted from the register.

  • Discretionary rate relief

The Council can grant discretionary relief to:

  • Registered charities up to 20% (as registered charities organisations are already eligible for 80% rate relief).  Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) that have registered with His Majesty's Revenue & Customs, fall into this category
  • Other charitable organisations or institutions that are not established for profit and whose main objectives are charitable, otherwise philanthropic, religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts (up to 100% at our discretion)
  • Properties occupied by not-for-profit sports, social clubs, societies, or other organisations for the purpose of recreation (up to 100% at our discretion)
  • "Hardship" relief, where the ratepayer is experiencing difficulty paying and it is in the best interest of our Council Tax payers to grant relief (up to 100% at our discretion).

Any award of this relief would come under the scope of State Aid and/or Subsidy Allowances. Please see our Subsidy Allowances page for details.

If you wish to apply for discretionary relief, please contact the business rates team at businessrates@epsom-ewell.gov.uk.

Transitional relief

At a revaluation, some ratepayers will see reductions or no change in their bill whereas some ratepayers will see increases. Transitional relief schemes are introduced at each revaluation to help those facing increases. 

A new scheme has been put in place which will take affect from the 1 April 2026, for the 2026 Revaluation and if you qualify for the relief it will be automatically added to your bill. Details of how Transitional Relief can be found at www.gov.uk/businessrates/transitional-relief.

For 2026 to 2027, an additional rateable value x 1p supplement also applies to bills to help fund transitional arrangements. However, if the total transitional relief on your bill is greater than the supplement then the supplement does not affect your bill (so no supplement in effect is payable). This is because the transitional relief would include the full supplement amount, as the supplement does not affect the maximum increase allowed under transition.

Other relief

There are a number of other business rates relief which are not applicable in Epsom & Ewell but if you would like further information please visit the GOV.UK website.