HM Treasury, Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Multipliers & Pubs and Live Music Venue Relief Subsidy Scheme

This live music venue relief subsidy scheme will help implement changes to the applicable business rate system by providing lower business rate multiplies on qualifying properties.

Eligible properties with rateable values under £500,000 will pay business rates multipliers that are 5p lower than the current rate. Certain venues will also benefit from an 15% relief on their new business rates bills for the tax year 2026/27, ahead of their bills being frozen in real terms in tax years 2027/28 and 2028/29.

Our key takeaways from the Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) report are:

• Information should be included on how additionality was built into the scheme. This would include examining the breadth of beneficiaries and the practicalities of administering such a scheme.
• The assessment should have included further information on how the overall multiplier reduction and the additional discount (especially when being applied regardless of rateable value) was limited to the minimum necessary.
• Assessments should consider the potential impact on competition, especially as regards to the impact between corporate entities and classes of providers who do and do not benefit from the scheme. Detail should also be provided on the monitoring and evaluation plans which will assess the competitive impact.

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