Non-Domestic Rating Bill: HL Bill 140 of 2022–23

The Non-Domestic Rating Bill is a government bill that would make changes to business rates. Its provisions would apply primarily in England. The Welsh government has requested that some of the provisions also apply to Wales. A clause on data sharing would also extend to, and apply in, Northern Ireland.

Between 2020 and 2021 the government conducted a review of, and consultation on, business rates. Many of the measures in the bill would make changes recommended in that review.

The main measures in the bill are:

• reducing the time between revaluations of a property’s rateable value from five years to three years
• instituting a duty on businesses to notify the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) of changes that could affect a property’s rateable value
• introducing rates reliefs for improvements to property and heat networks
• allowing the Treasury to give businesses the immediate benefit of rates reductions, while maintaining transitional relief for rates increases

In the House of Commons, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats did not oppose the bill; however, they criticised the government for not undertaking more substantial reforms. They also criticised the new duty to notify the VOA of relevant changes as imposing too great an administrative burden on businesses.

The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 29 March 2023 and passed its Commons stages without amendment. It is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 19 June 2023.

The government has produced explanatory notes and a delegated powers memorandum alongside the bill.