Some businesses are eligible for a reduction in their business rates bill. This is called business rates relief.
Transitional Relief
Sometimes, the value of a property can change a lot after a revaluation. To help with this, there are special rules called transitional arrangements. These rules make sure that if the value goes up a lot, the increase is limited. Transitional relief means your bill can only go up by a certain percentage each year after a revaluation. This relief will continue until the full amount is due. It will be calculated automatically and shown on your bill. For more information, please see Business rates relief: Transitional relief – GOV.UK.
Small business rate relief
You can get small business rate relief if:
- your property’s rateable value is less than £15,000
- your business only uses one property (you may still be able to get relief if you use more)
You cannot get small business rates relief and charitable mandatory rate relief at the same time.
How much small business rate relief you get depends on your property’s rateable value.
You will not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, if that’s the only property your business uses.
For properties with a rateable value of £12,001 to £15,000, the rate of relief will go down gradually from 100% to 0%.
If you use more than one property
When you get a second property, you’ll keep getting any existing relief on your main property for 3 years (This only relates to businesses taking on additional premises from 27 November 2025 or after. For businesses that took on additional premises prior to 27 November 2025, the grace period will remain at twelve months)
You can still get small business rate relief on your main property after this if both the following apply:
- none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
- the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £20,000
For more information, please see Business rates relief: Small business rate relief – GOV.UK.
If you do not currently receive small business rates relief and think you may be eligible, please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
Supporting small businesses rate relief
The Government has introduced a Supporting Small Business Relief (SSBR) scheme that will run alongside and is separate to the Transitional Relief scheme.
This relief will help ratepayers who at the revaluation would have seen large increases in their bills because of losing some or all of their:
- Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)
- 40% Retail, Hospitality, Leisure (RHL) relief
- 2023 Supporting Small Business scheme (will be eligible for one year only)
Businesses that do not have any of these reliefs on 31 March 2026 are not eligible. Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) are also excluded.
To support eligible ratepayers, the 2026 SSBR will ensure that the increase in their bill is limited to £800 per year or the relevant caps within transitional relief whichever is greater. It will be calculated automatically and shown on your bill.
For more information, please see Business rates relief: Supporting small business relief – GOV.UK.
Mandatory charitable rate relief
Charities
Charities are entitled to mandatory rate relief where the property they occupy is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. Relief is given at 80% of the rates payable. To avoid confusion a Community Interest Company (CIC) is not a charity and does not meet the eligibility criteria to attract this relief.
Amateur Sport Clubs
This relief grants mandatory rate relief of 80% to sports clubs that have registered with HM Revenue & Customs as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs).
Many amateur sports clubs can register as CASCs without making any changes to the way they operate. However, they must be able to satisfy the following:
- Is membership of the club open to the whole community?
- Are all the club’s facilities available to members without discrimination?
- Does the club’s constitution prevent profits of the club being distributed amongst its members?
- Does the club provide facilities for and encourage participation in eligible sports?
- Does the club’s constitution provide that on dissolution of the club, any net assets are to be applied for approved sporting or charitable purposes?
For more information, please see Business rates relief: Charitable rate relief – GOV.UK.
If you do not currently receive Mandatory charitable rate relief and think you may be eligible, please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
Unoccupied property relief
If you get empty property relief, you do not have to pay business rates on your empty property for 3 months. The relief starts from when the property becomes empty. After this time, most businesses must pay full business rates.
The following properties can get extended empty property relief:
- industrial premises (for example warehouses) are exempt for a further 3 months
- listed buildings – until they’re reoccupied
- buildings with a rateable value under £2,900 – until they’re reoccupied
- properties owned by charities – only if the property’s next use will be mostly for charitable purposes
Other exemptions are available – please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk if you think your empty property may be exempt
For more information, please see Business rates relief: Empty property relief – GOV.UK.
Local Disruption
You may get a temporary reduction in your business rates if your premises are affected by severe local disruption (like flooding, or nearby building work or roadworks).
Tell the Valuation Office (within HMRC) if you think a local disruption has affected the value of your property. Use your business rates valuation account to tell them.
The Valuation Office will decide if you can get a temporary reduction in your business rates.
Portsmouth City Council is unable to determine your eligibility for any reduction linked to local disruption and you must therefore direct your request to the Valuation Office Agency.
Part-occupied rate relief
The council has discretion to allow part occupied relief (also known as S44A relief). It can apply when part of your property is unoccupied for a temporary period. This would usually be because there are practical difficulties in occupying or vacating the premises.
To apply you must write to us with the following:
- details of why your premises are partly occupied
- how long this will be the case
- a floor plan showing the areas that are occupied and unoccupied
We may ask the Valuation Office (within HMRC) to tell us what part of your rateable value covers the occupied area and what part covers the unoccupied area.
If agreed, we will apply empty rate relief on the unoccupied area and charge occupied rates only on the occupied area.
Please refer to the council’s discretionary rate relief policy for more information, and please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk if you think you may qualify for part-occupied rate relief.
Improvement relief
You may get improvement relief if you make certain improvements to your property.
To be eligible, you must:
- increase the rateable value of your property
- complete improvements on or after1 April 2024
The improvements must also meet one of the following:
- increase the size of your property
- add new features or equipment to your property, such as heating, air conditioning or CCTV
You must have occupied the property during and after the improvement works to get improvement relief. You cannot pass on your improvement relief to anybody else.
The amount of relief you get will be based on your rateable value and the type of improvements you have made.
To apply you can report changes to your property using your business rates valuation account.
The Valuation Office will decide if the changes could be considered for improvement relief.
They will send a certificate to you and the council showing:
- how the improvement affects the property’s rateable value
- when the relief ends
Once the council has confirmed you were occupying the property for the duration of the improvements, we will:
- decide how much improvement relief you are entitled to
- send you a reduced rates bill
please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk if you think you should be getting improvement relief but are not
Pubs and live music venues relief
Eligible pubs and live music venues will benefit from a 15% business rates relief on top of the support announced at Budget 2025.
The government’s policy intention is that pubs and live music venues should be eligible for the relief. The relief should apply to occupied properties only.
Pubs
Relief should only be awarded to pubs which meet all of the following characteristics:
- is open to the general public
- allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided
- allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed
- permit drinks to be purchased at a bar
For these purposes, the meaning of pub does not include:
- restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, snack bars
- hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses
- sporting venues
- festival sites, theatres, cinemas
- museums, exhibition halls
- casinos
The exclusion in the list above is not intended to be exhaustive and it will be for the local authority to determine those cases where eligibility is unclear.
Where eligibility is unclear authorities should also consider broader factors in their considerations – i.e., in meeting the stated intent of policy that it demonstrates the characteristics that would lead it to be classified as a pub by the natural meaning of the word. For example, being owned and operated by a brewery.
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. It can be used for other activities but only if those other activities are:
- ancillary or incidental to the performance of live music (e.g. the sale of food or drink to audience members)
- do not affect the primary use of the premises for the performance of live music (e.g. because the activities are infrequent such as use of the venue as a polling station or fortnightly community event)
Properties are not a live music venue for the purpose of this relief if the property is wholly or mainly used as a nightclub or a theatre, for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended).
For more information, please see Business rates relief: Types of business rates relief – GOV.UK.
Relief will be calculated automatically and shown on your bill. If you think you should be receiving Pubs and live music venues relief and are not, please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
Hardship Relief
Councils can reduce or cancel your business rates bill through hardship relief.
To qualify for this relief, the council must be satisfied that:
- your business would be in financial difficulty without it, and
- awarding hardship relief is in the interests of local people.
You will need to provide evidence of your financial situation and explain how your business benefits the local community.
When applying, you should include information that answers the following questions:
- How many full‑time equivalent employees does the business have?
- How many of these employees live in Portsmouth?
- What factors have caused the business to experience hardship?
- What actions have been taken to address or improve the situation?
- What will be the consequences for the business if the council does not award all or part of the requested relief?
- What will be the consequences for the local community if the council does not award all or part of the requested relief?
- What financial assistance, if any, is the business receiving or applying for from other sources?
- What existing debts, if any, could result in creditors taking enforcement action or starting insolvency proceedings?
You will also need to provide:
- your audited accounts for the past two years
- a cash flow forecast covering at least the next 12 months
- a copy of your business plan
To apply for hardship relief, please contact us at businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Discretionary rate relief
Discretionary rate relief is a type of business rates reduction that the council may choose to award. Unlike other reliefs it is not automatically granted, and each application will be assessed against the council’s policy.
Because it is discretionary the council will need to understand whether the requesting organisation provides essential services to the local community, and therefore how its objectives support the council’s priorities.
The council will also need to understand the impact on local people if the organisation closed.
The council will need to understand the financial position and financial viability of the organisation seeking discretionary rate relief and assess whether awarding relief provides an unfair advantage over similar competing businesses.
You can download the application: NDR discretionary rate relief form, and submit it to businessratesteam@portsmouthcc.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can post it to: Local Taxation (Business Rates), Revenues and Benefits, Portsmouth City Council, Civic Offices, Guildhall Square Portsmouth, PO1 2BE.