If you run a shop, restaurant, pub, gym, or other retail, hospitality or leisure business in England, you may remember claiming Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) Relief — a 40% discount on your business rates bill, capped at £110,000 per business. That scheme ended on 31 March 2026, and it has not simply been renewed or extended.
From 1 April 2026, there's nothing to apply for any more — the discount has been replaced by a permanent, lower business rates multiplier baked directly into how qualifying RHL properties' bills are calculated, rather than a percentage taken off afterwards.
Rateable value under £51,000
38.2p RHL multiplier
vs. 43.2p standard small business multiplier
Rateable value £51,000–£499,999
43p RHL multiplier
vs. 48p standard multiplier
Either way, that's roughly a 5p-in-the-pound reduction built into the multiplier itself — properties valued at £500,000 or more pay a higher 50.8p multiplier instead and don't qualify. A transitional relief scheme (Supporting Small Business) caps how much anyone's bill can rise if they lose out from the change.
No application needed — this is applied automatically by your local council when it calculates your bill.
Under the old scheme, you (or your accountant) had to actively claim RHL Relief each year, so it was something people checked on and budgeted around. The new system needs no claim at all — if you're still searching for “retail hospitality leisure relief application” or wondering why you can't find a form to fill in, that's expected: there isn't one any more. Your bill should already reflect the lower multiplier automatically.