Retail, Hospitality and Leisure businesses could be eligible for a lower multiplier under this scheme.

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Multiplier 2026/27

To replace the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) Relief that was available in previous financial years, the government have created new multipliers from 1 April 2026 that will be available to

  • retail properties
  • hospitality properties
  • leisure properties

This will provide eligible and occupied properties with a bill calculated using a lower multiplier than non-RHL businesses. This is limited to properties with a Rateable Value (RV) under £500,000

The Multipliers

Multiplier2025-262026-27Scope
Small business RHL multiplier 38.2pRHL hereditaments with RVs under £51,000
Standard RHL multiplier 43pRHL hereditaments with RVs between £51,000 and £499,999
National small business multiplier49.9p43.2pNon-RHL hereditaments with RVs under £51,000
National standard multiplier55.5p48pNon-RHL hereditaments with RVs between £51,000 and £499,999
High-value multiplier  50.8pAll hereditaments with RVs of £50,000 or above 

Eligibility

Eligible business types

Premises used wholly or mainly by visiting members of the public for:
 

The sale or hire of goods
  • Shops
  • Supermarkets
  • Charity shops
  • Shopping centres
  • Motorway service stations
  • Florists
  • Bakers
  • Butchers
  • Grocers
  • Greengrocers
  • Jewellers
  • Stationers
  • Off licences
  • Chemists
  • Opticians
  • Newsagents
  • Hardware stores
  • Markets
  • Petrol stations
  • Garden centres
  • Furniture shops/display rooms
  • Car/caravan show rooms (including those for second-hand vehicles)
  • Art galleries where art is for sale/hire
  • Hereditaments from which domestic goods are hired
  • Hereditaments from which tools are hired
  • Hereditaments from which cars are hired
  • Hereditaments from which bicycles are hired
The provision of services
  • Funeral directors
  • Launderettes
  • Hair and beauty salons (for instance, hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops, salons carrying out non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and salons carrying out piercings)
  • Tattooists
  • Garages
  • Shoe repairers
  • Key cutters
  • Dry cleaners
  • PC/TV/Domestic appliance repairers
  • Photo processers
  • Post offices (excluding post office sorting offices and post depots where customers can only collect missed deliveries)
  • Travel agents
  • Ticket offices (e.g. for the theatre)
  • Animal grooming parlours/stabling of animals (unless stabling working animals, such as professional racehorses, as these would not be open to visiting members of the public)

     
The sale of food and drink
  • Restaurants
  • Takeaways (providing that the shop is generally open to visiting members of the public, even if the majority of their sales are online and/or done by delivery)
  • Sandwich shops
  • Coffee shops
  • Cafes
  • Pubs
  • Bars
The provision of living accommodation as a business
  • Hotels
  • Boarding/guest houses
  • B&Bs
  • Holiday homes
  • Apartments used for short-term lets (including serviced apartments where they are within scope of business rates)
  • Caravan parks
  • Campsites
The provision of cultural, community or recreational facilities
  • Live music venues
  • Nightclubs
  • Cinemas
  • Theatres
  • Libraries
  • Museums
  • Galleries
  • Archives
  • Stately homes/historic houses
  • Tourist information centres
  • Public halls/village halls
  • Venues for hire for events or activities, where the events and activities are principally for the benefit of visiting members of the public
  • Premises used wholly or mainly for meetings by voluntary associations
  • Premises used by youth groups for meetings and activities, such as scout huts
  • Premises used for lectures or lessons undertaken for recreational purposes (such as art classes, pottery classes, language lessons and performing arts classes)
  • Sport and leisure facilities, such as gyms, sports grounds, and sports clubs
  • Health spas, wellness centres, and massage parlours
  • Casinos, gambling clubs, and bingo halls
  • Theme parks
  • Soft play centres
  • Marinas, wharfs, piers and jetties (when used wholly or mainly for recreational purposes)
  • Hereditaments used for activities such as bowling, laser tag, paintballing, escape rooms, and miniature golf
  • Zoos
  • Swimming pools (unless exclusively used by professional athletes, as these would not be open to visiting members of the public)
  • Skating rinks (unless exclusively used by professional athletes, as these would not be open to visiting members of the public)
     
Not Eligible
  • Financial services (such as banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de changes, short-term loan providers, insurance agents, financial advisers)
  • Medical and health services (such as medicine, dentistry, audiology/hearing services, cosmetic surgery, physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic services, acupuncture, herbal medicine)
  • Professional services (such as law, accountancy, tax advice, management consultancy, engineering services, architectural or surveying services, veterinary services, estate agency work, letting agency work)
  • Storage and distribution of goods for online sales (i.e. warehouses)
    • Please note that this means warehouses for online distributors are excluded, even if there is a small part of the warehouse that is open to visiting members of the public for in-person sales. However, where the hereditament is wholly or mainly used for the sale of retail goods to visiting members of the public, the hereditament remains inside the definition of RHL, even if the hereditament is also used for online/click-and-collect services.
  • Recording studios and film studios for business or professional use
    • Please note that only recording/film studios used wholly or mainly for business/professional use are excluded from the definition. “Business or professional use” takes its natural meaning. Therefore, recording/film studios that are, for instance, wholly or mainly hired by record labels and/or professional artists would not be in scope.
    • Conversely, any recording/film studios that are wholly or mainly used for recreational/leisure purposes by the public (for instance, to put on parties, provide tours, or to sell merchandise) would be in scope.
  • Crematoria
  • Taxi/minicab firms
  • Show homes
  • Conference centres
  • Betting shops
  • Postal sorting offices
  • Citizens’ advice bureaus
  • Job centres
  • Car parks
  • Public transport hereditaments other than bicycle docking stations (such as bus/coach stations, railway stations, tramway stations, airports, ferry ports, riverboat services, including piers used for river services)
    • Please note only hereditaments used by riverboat services that are wholly or mainly used for transport purposes (i.e. where the main purpose of the riverboat is to simply transport passengers, such as commuters, from one location to another) are out of scope. Hereditaments used by riverboat services that are wholly or mainly used for leisure/recreational purposes (such as sightseeing) are in scope.
  • Schools, creches, nurseries, colleges, and universities (as they are not open to visiting members of the public)
  • Hereditaments used for the production of alcohol (such as breweries), unless wholly or mainly open to visiting members of the public (e.g. mainly used as a bar and/or for providing tours to the public, with the production of alcohol being ancillary to this)
  • Film and theatre production companies (as they are not open to visiting members of the public)
  • Accommodation where a significant element of care is provided as part of the services provided by the business is not in scope. This means that hereditaments such as nursing homes, children’s homes, and respite care facilities are not in scope.

The above lists of eligible businesses are not exhaustive and may be added to. If your business is of a similar nature to any of the listed above, you may still qualify.

Applying for the relief

If you believe your business meets the above eligibility criteria you can apply for the multiplier here 

 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Multiplier form 

23293