Confirmation of the Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers for 2023/2024
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has issued its first business rates round up of 2023, with several updates and clarifications included.
To reiterate, the Secretary of State has calculated the non-domestic rating multipliers for England for 2023/2024 as follows:
- small business non-domestic rating multiplier 49.9p (0.499)
- non-domestic rating multiplier 51.2p (0.512)
Calculation of Small Business Multiplier 2023/24 for 2023/24 (based on data as at 30 September 2022):
A = 2022/23 Small Business Multiplier 0.499
B = the value 320.2 as specified in The Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Non-Domestic
Rating Multipliers) (England) Order 2022 SI 2022 No. 1407
C = RPI for September 2021 308.6
D = estimated total RV for 31/3/23 once all alterations to the 2017 list have been made:
£66,018,162,549
E = estimated total RV for 1/4/23 once all alterations to the 2023 list have been made:
£68,497,484,666
Calculation of Small Business Multiplier 2023/24:
= (A x B x D) / (C x E)
= (0.499 x 320.2 x £66,018,162,549) / (308.6 x £68,497,484,666)
= 0.499 (to nearest 0.001)
In addition, following last year’s Spring Statement on 23 March 2022, the Chancellor announced that the Government would bring forward from April 2023 to April 2022 a measure to support
investment in green energy efficiency. The measure was a 100% relief for eligible
low-carbon heat networks which have their own rates bill.
Pending the passage in Parliament of legislation making this relief mandatory, the
heat network relief measure is being delivered using existing local government
discretionary relief powers funded by the government for the financial year 2022/23.
The guidance for this scheme for 2022/23 can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/business-rates-heat-network-relieflocal-authority-guidance/business-rates-heat-network-relief-local-authority-guidance.
Given that the legislation will not be in place for 1 April 2023, this relief scheme will
continue to be delivered in 2023/24 using existing local government discretionary
relief powers. The Government has promised further guidance for 2023/24 (substantively
unchanged from the 2022/23 guidance).
New Fibre Telecommunications Relief
This section only concerns those authorities whose lists contain a telecom network eligible for new fibre relief.
Back in March, 2018, the Government made the Non-Domestic Rating (Telecommunications Infrastructure Relief) (England) Regulations 2018. These regulations, and subsequent amendments, brought into force the 100% rate relief scheme for new telecom fibre announced by the Chancellor at Autumn Statement 2016. The scheme applied retrospectively to 1 April 2017 and ran for 5 years.
The scheme ended on April 1, 2022. Local authorities should now only apply the relief to those eligible telecom networks retrospectively for previous years. The regulations can be found at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/all?title=Telecommunications%20Infrastructure%20Re
life
The full letter can be seen here:
Dept of LUHC - 2023 update 
