The council works out the business rates bill by multiplying the rateable value of the property by the appropriate multiplier. There are two multipliers; the standard non-domestic rating multiplier and the small business non-domestic rating multiplier. The former is higher to pay for small business rate relief. Except in the City of London where special arrangements apply, the government sets the multipliers for each financial year for the whole of England, according to formulae set by legislation.

Between revaluations the multipliers change each year in line with inflation and to take account of the cost of small business rate relief. In the year of revaluation the multipliers are rebased to account for overall changes to total rateable value and to ensure that the revaluation does not raise extra money for government.

The current / previous multipliers are:

Year2024 to 20252023 to 20242022 to 20232021 to 20222020 to 20212019 to 20202018 to 20192017 to 20182016 to 20172015 to 2016
Multiplier54.651.2p51.2p51.2p51.2p50.4p49.3p47.9p49.7p49.3p
Small business multiplier49.949.9p49.9p49.9p49.9p49.1p48.0p46.6p48.4p48.0p