Rateable value vs your actual bill

The rateable value is not what you pay. Between the two sit a multiplier set by government and a set of reliefs applied by your council — which is why a 10% cut in valuation rarely means 10% off the bill.

5 minute readUpdated Reviewed against the 2026/27 multipliers

The short answer

Your rateable valueThe official estimate of a property's annual rental value on a fixed valuation date. Your rates bill is based on this figure, not on what you actually pay in rent. is not your bill. The bill is the rateable value multiplied by the government's rate — 43.2p in the pound below £51,000 for 2026/27 — minus any reliefs. A cut in rateable value does not always cut the bill by the same percentage, because crossing a threshold changes which multiplierThe pence-in-the-pound rate the government sets each year. Your rates bill is roughly Rateable Value × multiplier, before any reliefs are applied. and which reliefs apply.

The most common misunderstanding about business rates is that the rateable value is the bill. It is not. The rateable value is an estimate of annual rental value; the bill is worked out from it.

The arithmetic

Bill = rateable value × the multiplier, minus any reliefs. The multiplier is set by central government each year. For 2026/27 it is 43.2p in the pound below a rateable value of £51,000, 48.0p from £51,000, and 50.8p from £500,000. So a rateable value of £20,000 gives a gross bill of about £8,640, before any relief.

There is more than one multiplier

Which multiplier applies depends on the rateable value, and this is where the arithmetic stops being proportional:

Every rate in the pound, across the rateable value bandsBelow £51,000 the ordinary multiplier is 43.2p and the retail, hospitality and leisure rate is 38.2p. From £51,000 they are 48p and 43p. From £500,000 both become 50.8p and the retail discount is lost. A third line shows what a small business actually pays after Small Business Rate Relief: nothing up to £12,000, then rising evenly to the full multiplier at £15,000.Retail, hospitality & leisureEverything elseWhat you actually pay, after relief0p10p20p30p40p50pSMALL BUSINESSRATE RELIEFNOTHING TO PAY5P LOWER5P LOWER+£2,448 A YEAR ACROSS THIS LINERETAIL RATES LOST HERE43.2p38.2p48.0p43.0p50.8pBelow £12,000£12,000 – £15,000£15,000 – £51,000£51,000 – £500,000£500,000+Rateable value
The multiplier does not change below £12,000 — relief does. The green line is what a small business actually pays: nothing up to £12,000, rising evenly to the full rate at £15,000, and no relief above it. It is drawn on the ordinary multiplier, so a qualifying shop’s green line would end 5p lower, and it applies only if this is the only property your business uses in England.

None of this is a relief you claim: the multiplier is picked from your rateable value automatically, and retail, hospitality and leisureLower rates in the pound for qualifying shops, pubs, restaurants, cafés, gyms, hotels and similar. Since 1 April 2026 this is a lower multiplier rather than a relief — there is no claim form, and your council decides who qualifies from its record of how the property is used. properties are put on the lower rate by your council, based on how it has the property recorded. It matters most when a valuation moves. A reduction that crosses £51,000 changes both the base and the rate, so a saving is rarely a flat percentage of the reduction — which is why we never quote one as though it were.

Reliefs, and the one that matters most

Small Business Rate ReliefA discount for smaller properties. Below a certain Rateable Value you pay nothing at all; above that there's a sliding-scale ('tapered') discount up to a higher threshold. is the big one. At £12,000 rateable value or less it can take the bill to nothing at all. Between £12,001 and £15,000 it tapers away on a sliding scale. Full relief generally applies where it is your only property; your council will confirm the position if you have more than one.

Other reliefs are worth asking about: charitable relief at 80%, rural relief, empty-property relief, hardship relief. All are free to claim and all come from the council, not the VOA. Transitional relief is the exception — your council applies that one automatically.

When there is nothing to reclaim

If Small Business Rate Relief already reduces your bill to zero, a lower rateable value saves you nothing — you cannot go below nothing. It can still be worth confirming the recorded facts are right, because relief tapers, thresholds move at revaluations and circumstances change. But nobody should sell you a challenge on that property today.

Transitional arrangements and why your bill may not match

After a revaluation, large increases are phased in over several years rather than applied at once — increases only; a fall in rateable value is passed on straight away. Your council's bill may therefore differ from a straight rateable value times multiplier calculation. We do not attempt to compute transitional relief or supporting small business relief, because doing so needs figures we do not hold for most councils — and a wrong number is worse than no number.

The moneyBusiness rate reliefs, and why you might not have oneThe moneyTwo routes to a lower bill

General information, not financial or legal advice. Independent service — not endorsed by the VOA or HMRC. Official rateable values and formal decisions come only from the VOA/HMRC. England only.