Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the increased revenue to the public purse generated by the increase in business rates for private schools from 2025-26 onwards will be (a) kept in full by local government, (b) shared between central and local government through business rate retention or (c) retained by central government.
Answer
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government reconfirmed that it is removing private schools’ eligibility for charitable rate relief under business rates in England from April 2025. This intervention will raise around £140 million per year.
Business rates retention means that local authorities retain a proportion of all business rates revenue. As set out in published policy costings for Autumn Budget 2024, the increase in rates receipts due to the reduction in charitable rate relief for private schools will be shared between central and local government.