Independent Shops And Pubs Are The Real Losers In The Budget / 2026 Revaluation Says Colliers

Independent smaller pubs and shops are to be one of the biggest losers as a result of the November Budget and the 2026 Revaluation, says John Webber, Head of Business Rates at Colliers – because the low RHL multiplier will not be low enough to compensate for the loss of RHL reliefs – despite the Government claiming otherwise.

As a result, many small independent operators in England will see big spikes in their rates bills in the duration of the new list, which comes into force in April 2026- with bills expected to be 75% higher in 2028.

Webber has examined the impact of the new draft lists and the new multipliers announced by the Government at the Budget. The government announced a smaller RHL for properties with an RV below £51,000 of 38.2p.

Webber compares two pubs (indeed the examples quoted by the Government in their own fact sheet ) of similar size and location, one owned by a big chain who had multiple pubs in their portfolio and who would not currently be receiving Retail Hospitality and Leisure Relief (RHL) and one owned by an independent operator as their only pub.

In the current year 2025/26 RHL relief of 40% has been capped to £110,000 per business. This meant the bigger chains only would receive relief on only one or two their properties- and most of their portfolio would have receive nothing. The independent operator however would have depended on that 40% relief for his sole property.

In calculating a business rates bill the VOA multiply the rateable value of the property by the multiplier and then take into account any reliefs applicable.

Taking the pub in the government’s example with a current RV of £30,000. On current multipliers the operator with multiple sites (chain) will be paying business rates bills of £14,970 on the property, but the independent would pay £8,982 (as he received 40% RHL relief).

According to the government example following the Revaluation, the RV of the average pub has increased by 30% – so in our example up to £39,000. The RHL multiplier to be applied will be down at 38.2p.

In year one April 2026/27

Chain/multi-site operator pays £39,000 x 39.2p (to include 1p supplement to fund transitional relief) ie £15,288 – a tiny 2% increase on his rates bill
Small independent operator loses 40% relief but rates bills rises are capped at higher of 15% or £800 : so pays £8982 x 15% ie £10,329 – a 15% increase on his rates bill from the previous year

In year two 2027/8

Multipliers go up by inflation, we estimate the smaller RHL multiplier will be 39.3p
Chain/multi-site operator pays £39,000 x 39.3p ie £15,327
Small independent operator pays same multiplier but rates rises are now capped at 25%, so pays £13,234 – an increase of 28% on the previous year

In year three 2028/29

Multipliers go up by inflation, we estimate the smaller RHL multiplier will be 40.2p
Chain/ multi-site operator pays £39,000 x 40.2p ie £15,678
Small independent operator is now out of transition- so bill is not capped – so pays £15,678

Therefore, in the 3 years of the list the chain/ multi-site operator will see rates bills on this property grow from £14,970 to £15,678- a growth of 4.7%. Meanwhile the small independent operator will see a rates bill grow from £8,982 to £15,678- an increase of 74.5%.

As John Webber comments, “Independent small pub and shop owners are going to miss out. The loss of relief currently 40% (already down from the previous 100% and then 75%) is in no way compensated for by the lower RHL multiplier. The level just didn’t go low enough! The Government does not appear to be being straight with business – although the cap on bills in year one is significant, this is hardly worth anything for a pub business faced with a 75% increase over three years.

The government boasted about levelling up the high street. But a version of levelling up the sector by getting small businesses to pay the same as big businesses is not what we thought they had in mind! “