Business rates multiplier 2027/28: 49.7p standard and 44.7p small business in England

From 1 April 2027, the rateable value of your workshop or office in England will be multiplied by 49.7p to work out your business rates, or by 44.7p if the small business multiplier applies to it. Those are the 2027/28 figures for the business rates multiplier, and reliefs come off after that.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published them in a business rates information letter dated 28 October 2026, setting out the package the Chancellor announced at the Autumn Budget that day.

GOV.UK’s own estimate works the same way: your rateable value times the multiplier gives you one line in the cost of running the business, and reliefs can bring it down.

Your business rates multiplier is only part of the bill

Don’t read too much into the name. The letter doesn’t say which premises the small business multiplier covers or how the figures compare with this year’s. There’s also a higher 52.5p multiplier for high-value property.

Got a second unit, a yard or a lock-up as well as your main premises? Whether those other properties can be disregarded when Small Business Rate Relief is granted on the main one turns on their combined rateable value. MHCLG plans a single England-wide threshold of no more than £29,999 for that combined figure, until 31 March 2029.

MHCLG is also extending the 2026 Supporting Small Business scheme, one of the business rates grants and schemes for smaller firms, for a further year to those who were receiving 2023 Supporting Small Business relief.

A 1p supplement, the Transitional Relief Supplement, will be kept for two more years, 2027/28 and 2028/29, to help pay for the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) support. The letter doesn’t say which bills it lands on.

Most of the extra relief goes to shops, pubs and leisure

Most of the rest of the package is for RHL premises, which also have their own lower multipliers: 44.7p standard and 39.7p for the small business version.

Their Small Business Rate Relief thresholds rise from £12,000 to £18,000 and from £15,000 to £21,000, until 31 March 2029. That means 100% relief up to £18,000 of rateable value, tapering evenly to 0% at £21,000. Those thresholds are only for qualifying RHL premises, so a small workshop or office won’t pick them up by being small.

The detailed rules are still to come

MHCLG says regulations and guidance will follow in the coming weeks. Its technical annex is an advance overview, and the department says the full rules are the ones to use once they are published.

Until then, the half of the sum you can check is your own: look up your premises’ rateable value with GOV.UK’s Find a business rates valuation service. And if you’re planning ahead for the same month, the Making Tax Digital rules for sole traders also widen from April 2027.