01 Dec Budget 2025: what you need to know
In light of a highly anticipated Budget last week, we have pulled together some of the key changes that may affect your business.
Business rates
Changes have been announced to business rates, with permanent reductions for retail, hospitality and leisure, but a surcharge for larger businesses. These will be in place from 1 April 2026 and include changes to the multipliers used to calculate business rates.
- Retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) businesses with a rateable value (RV) of £499,999 or less will receive permanent business rates relief through two new multipliers
- Businesses with an RV of £500,000 or more will see a new surcharge, the ‘high-value multiplier’
- Non-RHL businesses with a RV of £499,999 or under will also see reduced multipliers
- A £4.3 billion business rates support package which will cap business rates bill increases for sectors hit hardest by revaluations from April 2026
The Business Rates Revaluation 2026 will come into force in April 2026; the figures can be found now on the Valuation Office Agency website.
What you can do now:
- Check your property’s current RV, and it’s future RV from April 2026, using this GOV.uk tool: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-rates-find/search
- If you think the property details used in your 2026 valuation are wrong, you can tell the VOA by raising a check case against your 2023 valuation
- Objections to your revaluation can only be made from 1 April 2026
Initial indications show that the changes to business rates, especially for businesses above £500,000 and for retail, hospitality and leisure, could have a greater impact in the London area. We are in touch with the national industry bodies about this and will be seeking our businesses’ views on the next steps.
If you have any further questions or comments about the changes to business rates, please get in touch with our team.
Visitor levy
Devolved Mayors, including the Mayor of London, will have the power to implement a visitor levy or ‘tourist tax’ on overnight stays in hotels, bed and breakfasts and holiday lets. The money raised through a visitor levy would be spent improving the visitor economy and infrastructure used by tourists, and could bring London in line with cities like Paris, New York and Milan who already implement a tourist tax. The Mayor of London has not yet announced if such a levy will be implemented in London, but we will keep our hospitality businesses informed of the latest developments from the Greater London Authority and Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
Increase in the minimum wage
Workers on the minimum wage in Hammersmith will receive a pay rise from April 2026:
- The hourly rate for over-21s will rise by 50p to £12.71 per hour
- Workers aged 18-20 will see a rise of 85p to £10.85 per hour
- Under 18s will see a rise of 45p to £8 per hour
The full Budget 2025 can be found here, and a fact sheet detailing further changes to business tax can be found here.