Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what the impact might be for retail properties that are liable for the (a) basic and (b) intermediate rate in each of the next three years as a result of the proposed retail, hospitality and leisure sectors rates relief from April 2026, which was set out in its draft Budget 2026-27.
Internal Scottish Government estimates are that up to 37,000 properties could benefit from the proposed retail, hospitality and leisure sectors reliefs set out in the draft Budget 2026-27, subject to take-up and the business level cap of £110,000. Table 1 provides a further breakdown by sector and by liability for the Basic Property Rate (BPR) and Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) respectively.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts this relief to be worth £44m in 2026-27[1]. This figure accounts for both the business level cap and the overall assumed take-up.
The cap of £110,000 per business on the annual value of non-domestic rates reduction that a business can benefit from thanks to retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) on its properties in Scotland is set across all properties that a business is liable for and that qualify for the relief. The cap is, therefore, dependent on the combined value of RHL relief awarded to properties in these sectors. As some businesses have properties in multiple sectors or that are liable for different rates, it is not possible to accurately estimate a breakdown of the value of the proposed relief between sectors and rate liable.
Table 1: Number of properties that could benefit from the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief in 2026-27 by sector and rate[2]
Retail | Hospitality | Leisure | All | |
of which BPR | 17,500 | 13,400 | 2,200 | 33,100 |
of which IPR | 1,600 | 1,600 | 300 | 3,500 |
Total | 19,100 | 15,000 | 2,500 | 36,600 |
[1]See Figure S4.23, Tax Supplementary Figures, Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – January 2026 | Scottish Fiscal Commission.
[2] These figures are subject to take-up and the application of the £110,000 business level cap. They have been estimated using data from the Scottish Assessor’s Association’s draft roll for 2026-27 as at 11 December 2025