Business rates reductions

Relief for charities and other non-profit organisations

You could get relief if your property is mainly used for charitable purposes. This is called ‘charitable rate relief’.

If you’re another kind of non-profit organisation and are not eligible for charitable rate relief, you might still be eligible for relief on your business rates.

Charitable rate relief

To be eligible, the property must be used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes by either:

  • a charity
  • community amateur sports club (CASC)

You cannot get charitable rate relief and small business rate relief at the same time. We will decide what type of relief you’re eligible for.

What you’ll get

You’ll get 80% off your business rates bill. This is called ‘mandatory relief’.

We may be able to top up the discount to further reduce your rates if you’re a charity.

This is called ‘discretionary relief’.

How to apply

You can apply for charitable relief online.

You can also apply for a discretionary relief top up online.

How to appeal

Check this guidance to see if you are eligible.

If you’re applying for discretionary relief, you can check the discretionary relief policy.

If you still think our decision is wrong, contact us within 1 month of the decision letter.

Explain why you think you meet the criteria and give us extra evidence to support your application.

A new panel of officer will review your application and your appeal documents. They may decide to:

  • keep the original decision
  • award more relief
  • award less relief

We will write to you to let you know the outcome, normally within 7 days. You will have no further right of appeal.

If you’re another kind of non-profit organisation

If you’re not eligible for mandatory relief, you may still be able to get discretionary relief if your property is used for activities that are:

  • charitable or philanthropic
  • religious
  • to do with social welfare
  • recreational
  • artistic or literary
  • educational or scientific

What you’ll get

You may be able to get up to 100% relief on your business rates. We will decide based on your budget and the funds we have.

How to apply

You can apply for discretionary relief online.

Page last updated: 24 November 2023

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