Business Rates: Improvement Relief

How is the relief provided?

The relevant billing authority will administer the relief, where the VOA has certified that the qualifying works condition has been met (and the certificate has not been withdrawn or ceased to have effect) and the billing authority is satisfied that the occupation condition has been met. Improvement relief will be automatically applied to the bills of eligible ratepayers. There is no need to apply for it.

The relief will apply for a 12-month period from the date on which qualifying works were completed. Given that qualifying works will be commenced on or after 1 April 2024, routine billing activities ahead of the 2024-25 financial year will not need to consider improvement relief. It is likely to be several months after the first works are commenced that eligible cases will begin to be identified. The relief will then be reflected in an eligible ratepayer's NDR liability for the remainder of the billing year in which the qualifying works are completed and part of the following year.

Local authorities will be asked to identify the total amount of relief provided in their NDR returns (NDR1 and NDR3).