Please note that during the period 28th February to 6th March 2026 we will be working to send out the main business rates bills for the financial year 2026/27. You will still be able to access our services as normal including those that are online, however as we will have no access to up to date computer records at this time we will be unable to process any information that you provide to us during this period. Normal processing will restart from 7th March 2026.
You will receive your new business rates bill for the financial year 2026/27 from 11th March 2026 onwards. Bills relating to any changes you may have reported from 28th Februray 2026 onwards will not be issued until all bills for the new financial year 2026/27 have been sent out. Bills relating to any changes reported during the period 28th February to 23rd March 2026 will be sent out from 24th March 2026 onwards.
Bills relating to any changes effective from the 1st April 2026 onwards reported from the 28th February 2026 will be sent out from 13th April 2026 onwards.
Explanatory Notes
You can read the explanatory notes which accompany your new bill online.
Making payments
You can still make payments through this period should you wish. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Direct Debit or make payments online.
Contacting us
If you want to see the details of your business rates account you can view your business rates online through your My Sandwell account. To do this and find out information about other council services login to your My Sandwell account or register online.
If you want to find out more information about business rates you can visit our business rates webpages.
Once you have received your new bill for 2026/27 remember to tell us about any change in circumstance which might affect your business rates charge. You can let us know by contacting the business rates team online.
Key changes affecting 2026/27 bills
2026 Revaluation
Every three years, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) updates the rateable values of over 2 million commercial properties in England and Wales. This process is called a revaluation; it is intended to ensure business rates reflect changes in the property market.
The next revaluation comes into effect on 1 April 2026, using market values determined as of 1 April 2024.
You can find everything you need to know about the 2026 revaluation at GOV.UK
2026 Supporting small Business Relief
Bill increases for businesses losing some or all of their small business rates relief or rural rate relief will be capped at the higher of £800 or the relevant transitional relief caps from 1 April 2026. The 2026 SSB relief scheme has been expanded to ratepayers losing their RHL relief. The government has also announced a one-year extension of the 2023 Supporting Small Business scheme from 1 April 2026. This support is applied before changes in other reliefs and local supplements.
You can find further details about Supporting Small Business Relief on GOV.UK
Business Rates Multipliers: qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure (from 2026)
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, in April 2026, the government will replace retail, hospitality and leisure relief with two lower business rates multipliers for properties with rateable values below £500,000.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council will be responsible for determining which properties are eligible for these multipliers in line with government guidance.
New Multipliers from April 2026
Three new multipliers have been introduced from 1st April 2026, two relating to Retail Hospitality and Leisure and one for properties with a rateable value over £499,999
You can find further details about multipliers on GOV.UK
Transitional Relief
To support ratepayers facing large bill increases at the revaluation the government is introducing a redesigned Transitional Relief scheme worth £3.2 billion.
Transitional Relief supplement
A 1p supplement to the relevant tax rate for ratepayers who do not receive Transitional Relief or the Supporting Small Business scheme to partially fund Transitional Relief. This will apply for one year from 1 April 2026.
Pub and live music venues relief 2026 to 2027
This relief is designed to help pubs and live music venues; they will be entitled to a further reduction of 15% after any other eligible rate relief(s).
The relief applies only to occupied properties. Full eligibility details can be found at GOV.UK
Extending the Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) grace-period from one to three years
Businesses will now keep their Small Business Rates Relief on their first property for three years after they take on a second property, instead of just one year
100% relief for eligible electric vehicle charging points and electric vehicle only forecourts (EVCP relief)
A ten-year 100% business rates relief for EVCPs separately assessed by the VOA and Electric Vehicle only forecourts to ensure that they face no business rates liability.
The regulations will be laid down in due course.