At the budget on 27 October 2021, the Government announced the introduction of a new business rates relief scheme for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties. It is aimed at supporting those businesses that make our high streets and town centres a success by helping them to evolve and adapt to changing consumer demands.
About the scheme
The 2022/23 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief (RHL) scheme will provide eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with a 50% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business for chargeable days from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
This relief scheme is likely to count as a subsidy, so can only be claimed if the business has not already exceeded the permitted UK Subsidy threshold as set out in the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance (SAFA).
The responsibility lies with the business, on a self-assessment basis, that by accepting the relief, they will not breach either the Cash cap or the SAFA threshold.
Under the cash cap, no ratepayer can in any circumstances exceed receiving up to £110,000, known as the cash cap, and this is applied cumulatively across all their properties in England.
Where a ratepayer has a qualifying connection with another ratepayer then those ratepayers should be considered as one ratepayer for the purposes of the cash caps. A ratepayer shall be treated as having a qualifying connection with another:
- where both ratepayers are companies, and
- one is a subsidiary of the other, or
- both are subsidiaries of the same company; or
- where only one ratepayer is a company, the other ratepayer (the ‘second ratepayer’) has such an interest in that company as would, if the second ratepayer were a company, result in its being the holding company of the other.
Please note the responsibility lies with the business, on a self-assessment basis, to determine if by accepting the relief that they are not breaching the cash cap.
UK Subsidy – Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance explained
Financial support awarded by the local authority under Discretionary Rates Relief is likely to be classed as a public subsidy and therefore can only be awarded if the current UK Subsidy Allowance (previously referred to as State Aid) is not breached. This is to ensure the UK’s subsidy obligations in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) are upheld.
To summarise under Article 364 of the TCA, a new domestic subsidy allowance known as Small Amounts of Financial Assistance (SAFA) was introduced by government on 4 March 2021, which enables a business at economic level (for example, a holding company and its subsidiaries) to receive up to 325,000 special drawing rights.
The special drawing rights can be converted into UK Pound Sterling using the special drawing rights calculator, as the value can change on a daily basis.
For example, on 9 December 2021 it equated to £343,000.
In calculating the amount of subsidy received, the economic actor should count all subsidies received in a rolling three-year period (consisting of the current financial year and the two previous financial years) such as Covid-19 business grants and any other subsidies claimed previously under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance (SAFA) limit but should not count relief awarded under the Expanded Retail Discount granted in either 2020/21 or 2021/22.
Further explanation of the current UK Subsidy Allowance thresholds and requirements for declaring subsidies received during discretionary relief applications is available on our subsidy webpage
Please note the responsibility lies with the business, on a self-assessment basis, to determine if by accepting the relief that they are not breaching the SAFA limit.
Find out if your business is eligible?
Your business could qualify for the award if it is in occupation of a non-domestic rated property that is wholly or mainly used as:
- shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas or live music venues
- for assembly and leisure, or
- hotels, guest and boarding premises or self-catering accommodation
We consider shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues to mean:
- Properties that are being used for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public:
- Art galleries (where art is for sale/hire)
- Car/caravan show rooms
- Charity shops
- Furnishing shops/display rooms (such as carpet shops, double glazing, garage doors)
- Garden centres
- Markets
- Opticians
- Petrol stations
- Post offices
- Shops (such as florists, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, jewellers, stationers, off licences, chemists, newsagents, hardware stores, supermarkets etc)
- Second-hand car lots
- Properties that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:
- Car hire
- Dry cleaners
- Funeral directors
- Hair and beauty services (such as hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops etc)
- Launderettes
- PC/TV/ domestic appliance repair
- Photo processing
- Shoe repairs/key cutting
- Ticket offices for example, for theatre
- Tool hire
- Travel agents
- Properties that are being used for the sale of food and/or drink to visiting members of the public:
- Bars
- Coffee shops
- Pubs
- Restaurants
- Sandwich shops
- Takeaways
- Properties which are being used as cinemas
- Properties that are being used as live music venues:
- Live music venues are properties wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience. Properties cannot be considered a live music venue for the purpose of business rates relief where a venue 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).
- Properties can be a live music venue even if used for other activities, but only if those other activities
- are merely ancillary or incidental to the performance of live music (for example, the sale/supply of alcohol to audience members) or
- do not affect the fact that the primary activity for the premises is the performance of live music (for example, because those other activities are insufficiently regular or frequent, such as a polling station or a fortnightly community event).
We consider assembly and leisure to mean:
Properties that are being used for the provision of sport, leisure and facilities to visiting members of the public (including for the viewing of such activities):
- Casinos, gambling clubs and bingo halls
- Gyms
- Museums and art galleries
- Nightclubs
- Sports grounds and clubs
- Sport and leisure facilities
- Stately homes and historic houses
- Theatres
- Tourist attractions
- Wellness centres, spas, massage parlours
Properties that are being used for the assembly of visiting members of the public:
- Clubhouses, clubs and institutions
- Public halls
We consider hotels, guest and boarding premises and self-catering accommodation to mean:
Properties where the non-domestic part is being used for the provision of living accommodation as a business:
- Caravan parks and sites
- Holiday homes
- Hotels, guest and boarding houses
Exclusions
However, your business will not be considered as an eligible use by government for the purpose of this discount (or any business broadly similar in nature) if being used for the businesses listed below:
Properties that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:
- Financial services (for example banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de change, short-term loan providers, betting shops)
- Medical services (for example vets, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors)
- Professional services (for example solicitors, accountants, insurance agents/ financial advisers, employment agencies, estate agents, letting agents)
- Post office sorting offices
- Or are not reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public
How the RHL relief will be applied?
The RHL relief will be assessed and calculated per chargeable day between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
The discount will be applied against the net bill after all mandatory reliefs and certain discretionary reliefs have been applied. Other reliefs and discounts that can be provided at the local authority’s discretion will be applied after any Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief.
Where the net rate liability for the day is nil after all other mandatory reliefs, such as Small Business Rate Relief, have been applied, Retail Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief will not apply.
Ratepayers that occupy more than one property will be entitled to the discount for each of their eligible properties up to the maximum £110,000 cash-cap per business.
Do I need to apply for the RHL relief?
No. The relief will be automatically awarded to your business rates bill for the start of year 2022/2023 for those businesses we consider qualify unless the business contacts the council to refuse the relief being applied. For example, if applying the relief would breach the cash cap or subsidy threshold.
If you feel your business fits the criteria for the relief but you have not had the relief applied to your bill you can apply using the online form below. You must apply for each individual eligible property you occupy within the city of Salford.
To apply for the relief, you will need your business rates account number which can be found on your bill. If you can’t find a bill you can request a copy bill here.
You will also need details of other RHL reliefs awarded (if applicable).
New application form
Can I reduce or refuse the amount of relief awarded?
Yes, you should notify us immediately to request the amount that has been automatically awarded is reduced or you wish to refuse the whole amount of the RHL relief being applied to your bill completely.
This may be due to part or all of the RHL relief award breaching the £110,000 cash cap limit and or the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Subsidy Allowance (325,000 special drawing rights – equated to £343,000 on 9 December 2021).
You can notify of this using the form below, so that we can amend or withdraw the relief.
Please note, if you refuse the RHL relief, which you can do anytime up to 30 April 2023, you are determining your business ineligible and cannot withdraw your refusal for either all or part of the financial year.
Refusal or reduction form
More information can be found on the business rates guidance page on GOV.UK.
This page was last updated on 16 March 2023